Matilda Boseley: Chore charms, TikTok & moral panic in the media

Episode 166 with Matilda Boseley.
“I missed it, my teachers missed it, my parents missed it, my therapist missed it, my doctors missed it, but TikTok figured it out in a couple of weeks.”
Matilda is an award-winning social media reporter and presenter for Guardian Australia. Based in Melbourne, she has spearheaded the publication’s popular TikTok channel where she writes and hosts their short-form news explainers.
She regularly reports on issues affecting young people, women and mental health and her first book, The Year I Met My Brain, documents her experiences and discoveries after being diagnosed with ADHD at 23 and investigates the hidden prevalence and costs of ADHD among adults.
We talk about how TikTok diagnosed her with ADHD, her viral video of her chore charms, and what made her decide to write a book about her diagnosis journey. We also talk about some of the media backlash against the recent rise in ADHD diagnoses, as well as about a thousand other rapid-fire topics because that’s what we do on this podcast.
Matilda explains her theory on “land brains” vs “ocean brains” and I basically had zero chill and just gush the whole time because I’m such a huge fan of Matilda’s work!
Website: linktr.ee/matildaboseley
Tiktok: @mattieunofficial ; @guardianaustraliaInstagram: @mattieunofficial
Twitter: @MatildaBoseley
Links:
The Year I Met My Brain by Matilda Boseley
Click here to watch Matilda’s viral chore charm video
The Guardian’s Full Story podcast episode
That’s Helpful with Edwina Stott podcast episode
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Episode Sponsors:
This episode is sponsored by Factor. Make your life easier and enjoy delicious, hassle-free meals with Factor. Get 50% off your order at factormeals.com/womenadhd50 and use the code WOMENADHD50.
This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. As a Women & ADHD listener, you’ll receive 10% off your first month of BetterHelp when you use this link: betterhelp.com/womenadhd
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Episode edited by E Podcast Productions
Find the transcript of this episode at www.womenandadhd.com/transcripts
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[@LukaMo_IDK]

Such a great convo. Thanks to you both ❤ Love the idea of Pelagic btw. Have you thought about the idea of a children’s book on land brain/ocean brain @matilda?

[@womenandadhd]

Thank you! I'm so glad you liked it and I'll make sure to pass along the children's book suggestion to Matilda - I love that idea!!

[@HaroldSchranz]

I can deeply and surprisingly relate. Being missed/misdiagnosed/mistreated for all of my life (until last year) pretty sure I have the supposed "female version of ADHD" and so do a similarly large set of missed and late-diagnosed (and un-diagnosed) men who often eventually have trouble late in Life (the overtly hyperactive ones are more likely to get diagnosed and/or get into trouble younger). Not just ADHD> Having life-long undiagnosed ASD/ADHD (AuDHD) and ending up being attacked for it is confusing and exhausting. Being twice-exceptional might explain the masking. I had 4 cancers since childhood - and it was the fourth one that caused hypercalcemia and that could have upset the ASD/ADHD balance. Lack of diagnosis destroyed my family and marriage - even now I get no understanding - everyone else is playing the victim (of my very rare overt symptoms) but it is clear that battling undiagnosed ADHD is the bigger problem. Work in progress.