Digital Media Use and ADHD Symptoms in Teens

00:00 Introduction and Apologies for Two Week absence
00:36 Discussion of research article
Here I discuss an article that was reported on in the trade mainstream media earlier this week concerning the use of digital media and risk for later ADHD symptoms in teens. That story was based on a research study published in 2018 (4.5 years ago!) at the website of JAMA Network, which is cited below and is discussed in detail in this video.
Chaelin K. Ra, MPH1; Junhan Cho, PhD1; Matthew D. Stone, BA2; et al. Association of Digital Media Use With Subsequent Symptoms of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Among Adolescents.JAMA. 2018;320(3):255-263. doi:10.1001/jama.2018.8931
jamanetwork.com/journals/jama...

[@patriciajump9511]

I think they should be using the term "ADHD-like" symptoms. If the subjects don't have ADHD they can't exhibit "genuine" ADHD symptoms.

[@ProBloggerWorld]

Also this is a spectrum. What characterizes and ADHD is the manifestation of these symptoms not being distracted or inattentive two hours per month.

[@jamiejohnson5748]

Hope you feel better! Thanks for the upload. My opinion, just based on subjective with ADHD - once I get my hands on a screen, I'm more likely to stay at the screen than other folks. Having 60 tabs open on my web browser is a common occurrence for me. The internet lets you indulge every curiosity or passing thought. Even if the websites you visit don't cause distraction themselves, access to any information by simply pressing Control + T and typing away is a little bit addictive. There are so many fun facts and rabbit holes - any distracting thought can turn into an 8 hour hyperfocus session when I intended to simply look up a recipe or check my email. Medication helps - I can get down to 6-8 apps usually. One recommendation I have if others experience something similar - a treadmill desk or a walking pad with a laptop set up is very very helpful! If you're going to spend 4 hours on wikipedia, you might as well get your steps in. Set it at a low walking speed and you'll barely notice. In order to get to my laptop, I need to step on the treadmill, so it already puts me half way there towards exercise.

[@MissTEO1]

That is so funny about the tabs. Mine easily go up to 80 and I try every few days to trim them down to about 60. I feel like if I close the extra tabs, I’ll forget and never go back to them again. And if I just bookmarked the open tabs, I DEFINITELY wouldn’t go back to them again!

[@jamiejohnson5748]

@@MissTEO1 Try to cut back on the tabs if you can. I learned that it's not very good for your computer and contribute to it dying faster. Another ADHD tax lol. But yes, dozens or hundreds of tabs seems to be a very common ADHD experience =P as is being behind on taxes and knowing how to cancel your credit card because you lose it so often... lol. Fitting in in ADHD support groups is actually kind of funny with all of the silly things we have in common.

[@publius9350]

I am at 50 on my phone. I made progress from the 100+ but it's going to be hard to get all the way to whatever I should have.

[@DaveE99]

@@MissTEO1we even know we aren’t going to read them, we just seem to think collecting them makes us better people kinda as if the act of collecting them is the actual learning of the content and bettering of ourselves while we just waste our focus and energy and apparently damnage our computer

[@hannahnfvideos1043]

I don’t have this issue with tabs but my “watch later” section on KZbin has over 5000 videos saved and my photos app is filled with thousands of screenshots I mean to go back to but I never do lol

[@michelescott7636]

I wish you had posted this a few days ago when I refuted this very claim for a fellow classmate in my health psych class. Thankfully I had plenty of research to cite but I am also very glad to share your expertise on the matter. 👍

[@b.patriotic82]

This is a good example of when correlation does not necessarily equal causation.

[@pipp972]

Indeed. Maybe digital media usage increases ADHD symptoms. Maybe, yknow, ADHD symptoms increase digital media usage. Maybe both are caused by something else.

[@publius9350]

I think the study is basically saying yes, this is interesting, look into it. The articles covering it are the ones making the big jumps.

[@b.patriotic82]

@@publius9350agreed. Dr. Barkley is on point as always. I was regarding my comment to the claim being made in the articles.

[@bossebergsten8302]

Thanks for the video! Of course we’re glad to have you back!

[@TinaWiman]

Great review! Thank you!

[@ADHDMoney]

Thank you for the work you do, breaking all these studies down and making it easier to understand.

[@courtneyriley185]

Congratulations on the move and thanks for the video! Feel better soon!

[@RavenVapor873]

Feel better Doc 💜‼️🥰 Of course we're glad you're back 🤗✨🌿

[@starlight5250]

Im glad your back! Feel better!

[@HumanandAnimalSupporter]

Exploring therapy options for ADHD is a game-changer, from psychotherapy to behavior therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy. 🧠💪

[@takiyaazrin7562]

Great work Doctor!

[@hannahnfvideos1043]

I just wish they would take the phrase ADHD out of it completely and just put “symptoms of inattentiveness and problems focusing” or something like that because people just don’t pay attention enough to realize there’s a difference between having a couple symptoms of something once in awhile and actually having the disorder.

[@ubertrashcat]

Another topic worth discussing with Dr. K! I hope he reaches out to you.

[@piotrgraniszewski8544]

Yay! You are back!

[@ldao4680]

Feel better soon!

[@russellbarkleyphd2023]

Thanks! Getting better everyday but this virus just lingers on for awhile.

[@be1tube]

Besides what Dr.B reported, it is possible that heavy use makes you more self aware or increases self monitoring, thus causing an increase in reporting symptoms without an increase in symptoms.

[@veeveri]

Ah the flu. Hope you get better! Great video as always~

[@Zita098765]

Thank you for sharing and teaching us! You have helped me better myself and pointing others in the right direction. As someone interested in understanding the emotional aspects of ADHD, I am curious about any insights or knowledge you may have regarding how ADHD affects emotional permanence? Is it directly or indirectly linked to object permanence? Regardless, thank you so much for your relentless effort

[@polarbear269]

hello Dr Barkley - a few years ago I watched a video of yours that was a funny take, a number of reasons of "you might have adhd" (maybe it was 53 reasons? 100 reasons? It was a lot of reasons :D and included such tidbits such as "You've walked away from this". Will you be re-posting this at all? It was so funny but also so spot on. I hope you are feeling better. Many thanks for all your work. Cheers

[@russellbarkleyphd2023]

It’s a great idea but I can’t recall ever doing one on that topic. Maybe so as at 74 my recall isn’t so great anymore. It might have been Ned Hallowell, MD who was known for such entertaining presentations. Thanks for watching.

[@barbh1]

Does it exacerbate ADHD problems if five year old kids watch cartoons or other videos?

[@eliseholton9284]

Hope the move went well , it’s not Fun

[@patriciajump9511]

Some just love to sensationalize. That bothers me so much. It is a dishonest practice for self gain, where they make somebody else suffer for them to gain.

[@ShutchyerLips]

I'm not really sure if this study is actually worth anything. Like the good doctor said, there is no control, but even worse, there is no baseline. There would have to be no access to digital media when they started, and there really need to be a lot more questions to explore what other factors, if any, could be contributing to the symptoms. It would be better stated as "teens sometimes develop some symptoms similar to adhd sometimes between sophomore and senior year, with, and possibly without digital media" Kinda takes the wind out of it when you phrase it like that though. I mean, has anyone ever met a teen? They all have adhd-like symptoms. Throw in literally any distracting media, digital or not, and you're going to see even more adhd-like traits exhibited.

[@trustern8179]

Greetings. What are your thoughts on the current/on going ADHD-explosion where diagnoses are set left and right at each second due to the ADHD trend. I as someone with ADHD+dozen comorbididites have the opinion that most people who fall into this situation do not have actual ADHD. I do not re-call a lot of people showing ADHD-like behaviors back when I went to elementary school and so on - yet the ADHD-explosion would make one think that there´d certainly be a lot of people who display such behavior who further grow up and end up w/diagnosis through this ADHD-explosion. I find it hard to believe that most of those people had the actual signs of ADHD during their earlier years. Of course some ADHD individuasl are more functional and prone to masking than others however most people that surrounded me during the earlier times at school seemed to behave like typical people while I caused abosolute havoc etc. I did at times notice ADHD behaviors in certain individuals who I now with more knowledge on ADHD can say were behaviors associated with ADHD but such people were not in every classroom to say the least and it did not appear that most of the others struggled even while doing their best so it is wild to see for exampel TikTok where almost everyone is self-diagnosing and even later receiving a diagnosis and so on.

[@trustern8179]

Another issue with this is that the ones who most likely are not ADHD will end up with stimulant medications which might make them feel like superman which further leads to thoughts such as "Wow I can handle life so well now! I definitely needed this for my ADHD!" - not the world end of course but man does the lack of for example Vyvanse in pharmacies grind my gears when I think about the amount of people who fell into the ADHD trend

[@jamiejohnson5748]

@@trustern8179 We don't know what's going on in the lives of other people, so I try not to make judgements about whether someone has ADHD or not, or any other illness/disorder etc. There are estimates that 3% - 7% of the population has ADHD, so a lot of people who self-diagnose are probably right (but they should still get diagnosed). I wasn't a kid who was bouncing off the walls, so my teachers would never have guessed I had ADHD. But I was very messy/disorganized, chronically late, kept losing everything. I didn't pay attention in class, but I read books I found interesting; my teachers were impressed that I read for pleasure, and let me get away with it. My teachers just thought I was "scatter brained" but otherwise a good kid. I was smart enough to compensate in school until it required more attention and involved fewer sticker-rewards for completing my work in class lol. When I finally got diagnosed last year in my 30s, my psychiatrist wrote a note to my doctor to explain his recommendation to double my medication dose; he respectfully said that I was an extreme case, exhibited in my inability to acquire a drivers license despite multiple attempts. I fall into a lot of the stereotypes regarding being diagnosed in adulthood, including being influenced by social media. I learned that I had a lot in common with people with ADHD. I ended up diagnosed. I'm on meds and doing much better. I've been able to keep a calendar for the first time in my life. I don't avoid people to avoid paying attention to conversations. I can actually clean for more than 2 minutes. My hygiene is better. I can arrive to work on time with ease. I can start tasks with much more ease. And yeah, I can pay attention better. I previously held an attitude like "Maybe I've got a little ADHD, but not enough to get diagnosed! Other people have it way worse than I do, and I don't want to be dependent on meds." I spent a long time thinking my ADHD wasn't as bad as other peoples, and that ADHD was just a fad because it was SO RELATABLE. That interfered with my willingness to get diagnosed, get medication, and pursue self education about ADHD to make better choices for myself. Now I know that those thoughts were a big mistake, and that I need medication. I don't think I'm less deserving of medication than people who were diagnosed first, or diagnosed as kids, or people who were hyperactive, or who have comorbidities. I don't think my diagnosis is "just a trend". I think that attitude might actually lead to some harm sometimes - I was guilty of it myself, about myself, in thinking my own ADHD wasn't real. And that did damage to me. The shortages are not just because more people are getting diagnosed. With Vyvanse specifically, the transition to a generic brand becoming available resulted in pharma companies pulling back production, and there were related issues to acquiring manufacturing supplies. I don't think we should view this as a competition against each other for access to medication. I think it's probably better to take a more cooperative approach with other people with ADHD so we can advocate for our interests as a larger group. It can help in policy changes (like production of meds, that would be great), workplace accommodations, and stigma. I don't want to add to the stigma by implying that ADHD isn't real for some people. Maybe their strongest symptoms are just different than mine, and so we don't relate to each other as much. I have mixed feelings about how people talk about ADHD on social media. It helped me get diagnosed, but it also has a lot of misinformation. The worst parts about ADHD are harder to talk about and harder for people without ADHD to relate to. This influences which types of videos get more attention. A clip about how forgetful I am is way more likely to go viral than talking if I were to talk about how I haven't done my taxes in several years or haven't invited people over to my place for years because it's so messy lol.