Frequent Smart Phone, Internet Use Linked To Symptoms Of ADHD in Teens (npr.org) 119
Most teens today own a smartphone and go online every day, and about a quarter of them use the internet "almost constantly," according to a 2015 report by the Pew Research Center. Now a study published this week in JAMA suggests that such frequent use of digital media by adolescents might increase their odds of developing symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. From a report: "It's one of the first studies to look at modern digital media and ADHD risk," says psychologist Adam Leventhal, an associate professor of preventive medicine at the University of Southern California and an author of the study. When considered with previous research showing that greater social media use is associated with depression in teens, the new study suggests that "excessive digital media use doesn't seem to be great for [their] mental health," he adds. Previous research has shown that watching television or playing video games on a console put teenagers at a slightly higher risk of developing ADHD behaviors. But less is known about the impact of computers, tablets and smartphones.
Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)
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In our youth we called it ASLAG (Attention Span Like A Gnat) and we didn't even have phones.
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In our youth we called it ASLAG (Attention Span Like A Gnat) and we didn't even have phones.
We had party lines and we liked it!
Re:Pfft (Score:4, Insightful)
TL;DR
I tried to read it, but I saw discussion of a correlation with limited efforts to eliminate the very reasonable possibility that ADHD prone kids being more likely to use smartphones and develop bad usage habits. Just because a kid didn't have an ADHD baseline to begin with, doesn't mean he's not prone to develop one.
I think you'd have to use two similar populations, then take phones away from one after a certain period.
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News at 11 (Score:2)
Is fast attention switching really a deficit? (Score:3)
or just a beneficial adaptation to the massively parallel disconnected-information inputs we have today?
I mean, if you have a lot of flowers to explore right in front of you, shouldn't you act like a bumblebee?
I know that attention switching leads to reduced ability to focus and go deep, but day-to-day survival and optimization these days don't require those skills from most people. The more important skill is knowing from your phone and text-friends what's up right now and just next, and how not to miss it
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It is not a new adaptation. It was perfectly useful for hunting, and it is useful again with information based jobs.
It was bad for farming and accounting.
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It is a problem when you can't switch from one behavior to the other.
If you can't for the life of you stay still for 5 minutes while in the middle of an important exam, that's the problem right there.
Kind of what Mr. Bean does in church... https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
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From now on instead of just shouting, "HANG UP AND DRIVE!!!" all the time, I'm going to alternate between that and, "OH! IT'S MR BEAN! MR BEAN! MR BEAN!"
Re: (Score:1, Interesting)
You need to be aware of the specific properties and diagnostic criteria in related diagnoses.
One thing I wish more people would realize is the very significant overlap between several ADHD criterion and adhedonia or related symptoms.
These symptoms are related to motivational disorders. In the majority of cases of adhedonia and major depressive disorder there is not so much an inability to experience pleasure but rather a hindrance of the effects of positive re-enforcement associated with pleasurable activit
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I know that attention switching leads to reduced ability to focus and go deep, but day-to-day survival and optimization these days don't require those skills from most people. The more important skill is knowing from your phone and text-friends what's up right now and just next, and how not to miss it.
We seem to have a real survival-affecting problem with people focusing on driving and not texting! There are still plenty of times in daily life when you need to focus down on one thing or risk death. Crossing the street, to begin with.
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I suggest you look up the computer-industry definition of the word "thrashing".
I'll bet you wouldn't even look up from your zombiephone for donuts....
Tell me about it (Score:1)
Re:Tell me about it (Score:5, Insightful)
My son is a phone addict. And he is struggling at school because he can't sit down and study for a few hours. Smartphones should be treated like asbestos.
Too bad his parents don't put limits on his use and behavior.
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If it only were that easy.
Yeah, maybe YOU were successful, it doesn't mean your methods (whichever they were) can be applied to every child out there. There will always be objective factors which would prevent your methods from being successful.
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My older son was sick, went through two major surgeries and a few minor ones, had stents inside him for 18 months (he's yet to receive a phone but uses computers). I had a choice: keep him still through coercion or provide him with the best possible form of entertainment. Between watching TV and playing computer games, I chose to offer him the latter.
He's better now and we go out for at least 2-3 hours a day, but he's still pretty hooked on PC gaming. I know it's not great and working on reducing his gaming
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Took my daughter's phone away. Her mother had, unfortunately, found an untrained, unlicensed, never took a single course or ever worked in the field in any accredited setting "psycherapist" treating her "ADHD" to assure her that her career failure was obviously the fault of this product of the male patriarchy, and that I *must* be abusive. She'd be a complete empowered and self confident success if I weren't!!!
The kind of logical fallacy is taught by the Center for Self Leadership, a bunch of bozos with no
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I read: 1) there was a divorce, 2) the guy dislikes a certain quack and a certain self help organization (and who doesn't hate quacks and self help), and 3) he took his daughter's phone away, though we don't know whether she was 3 or 13.
Can you elaborate on why you strongly suspect he is abusive?
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Thank you for that properly informed perspective. Although on the web site of said organization, it clearly says that they self-certify [selfleadership.org], and there are no external requirements for one of their two certified roles. Also, the other poster was pretty specific about his claim of "untrained", and either that is utterly false, or we should accept that without knowing more, it's a toss up whether the guy is providing a proper standard of care.
First, he mocks "Rogerian" therapy. It's also known as "person-centered" therapy. It's essentially the foundation for all serious helping professionals now
Really? I thought more and more evidence was piling up in favor of CBT,
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That's not the reaction of a supportive husband. That's the reaction of an abuser.
Sounds like you have some philosophical/political disagreements, then you took a giant leap from there. Based on the hubby's telling of it, it reminds me of a person on the internet that told me I was treating him/her differently because of his/her gender. The funny thing was that I didn't know that person's gender.
Plus, therapy shouldn't ever be about blaming people, is it? Helping someone see more enemies seems profoundly unhelpful, from the perspective of wanting emotional contentment. I suspect there's
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If you mean to suggest that the mere position that sexism exists in the world is a âoepolitical disagreementâ
No, it's more the idea that male power structures are almost certainly a cause of her career failings. I'm not quoting you directly--I'm stitching your words together with the words of the OP, so I know this isn't what you said, and my disagreement is misplaced. Does sexism affect every person? Obviously. Is it the cause for all women's career failings? Is it responsible for a significant portion of the career failings of most women (who have troubled careers)? That sounds too much like the apparent 30% pay
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Does he have ADHD because of the smartphone, or is he addicted to smartphones because he has ADHD?
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There needs to be parenting to go along with it, you can't blame all your childs problems on a toy.
My kid had a cell phone since very young and is top of her class.
Re:Tell me about it (Score:5, Insightful)
No, smarphones should not be handed out like candy to keep kids occupied, try actually being a parent instead of farming off that responsibility to a chunk of silicone. As for the over diagnoses of ADHD, just because a kid in a class room of 30 students has trouble focusing does not mean he has ADHD and needs to be drugged up to the eyeballs. Try looking at changing the environment before drugging the child. Most likely the problem is the teacher, and not the child. I have met millennial's who were proud of the fact that they have never ever read a book from cover to cover. That's fucked up.
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If you're going to comment on /., you might want to learn the difference between silicone and silicon...
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silicon + silicone = pornhub
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I have met millennial's who were proud of the fact that they have never ever read a book from cover to cover. That's fucked up.
I've noticed this with my niece and nephews. They can't watch movies - it's "too boring" to wait 2 hours to see how it comes out. Books "are way too long".
My daughter is somewhat older, so fortunately her formative years occurred before the smartphone era. But even within her circle of friends, it's like they need constant simulation - they'll be sitting together talking, but also on their laptops and cell phones. If we watch a movie together, my daughter will also be on her laptop.
Wow I really sound like t
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I have met millennial's who were proud of the fact that they have never ever read a book from cover to cover.
That person was an outlier. The median 18-29 year old reads more books than any other demographic. The mean 18-29 year old reads the same or more than all but the over-65s. (source: Pew book reading survey appendix A [pewinternet.org]).
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My son is a phone addict. And he is struggling at school because he can't sit down and study for a few hours. Smartphones should be treated like asbestos.
I agree.
What is the appropriate type of punishment for parents who intentionally expose their children to asbestos?
Multitasking (Score:1)
Being able to multitask, which is now required for success in many cases, is also an ADHD behavior. Maybe we shouldn't judge people in the present based on how pre-technology people existed.
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"Never half-ass two things. Whole-ass one thing."
Re:Multitasking (Score:5, Informative)
Being able to multitask, which is now required for success in many cases, is also an ADHD behavior. Maybe we shouldn't judge people in the present based on how pre-technology people existed.
No-one can "multitask". Some people can serially mono-task, switching from one to the other frequently. But you cannot convince your brain to do two tasks that are not pure repetition at the same time, and even when that works, the error rate goes up considerably.
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No-one can "multitask". Some people can serially mono-task, switching from one to the other frequently. But you cannot convince your brain to do two tasks that are not pure repetition at the same time, and even when that works, the error rate goes up considerably.
This is still multitasking. I had to write multitasking code way way back when I was at school, and multitasking is just the ability to put one task on hold while performing a part of another task, then switching back between the two. ie serially mono-tasking, but breaking a task into micro-operations and performing them non-contiguously. Human multitasking is identical to machine multitasking albeit much slower.
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There's zero evidence our brains function like single core microprocessors. Lots of times inspiration or insights come at odd times -- shower inspirations have never resulted in anyone falling because we can't simultaneously have thoughts and use a shower. I would concede there's evidence that you can't use the same part of the brain for two different tasks. I can't listen to higher math lectures while programming but I can listen to music. And while I can listen to math lectures while practicing guitar, I
Re: Who bought the teens phone? (Score:2)
subsidized prepaid phones (Score:2)
RTFS (Read the fine study) (Score:5, Insightful)
Also, I didn't know there was a definition for "excessive digital media use."
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Opening another Slashdot tab when you already have a Slashdot tab open from 1 minute ago, and it's right in front of you too.
Nonsense (Score:2)
I use my smart phone all the time and I don't have A- Oh look, squirrel!
The Cause or the Symptom? (Score:2)
Not really surprising, is it? (Score:2)
Childhood media consumption trains you to decouple your emotions from reality. Fairytales do that too to a certain degree, but they require mental participation, are coherent and are parables for the general human condition and foundational imaginations of the soul. Fables have a moral and legends reflect local folklore. Modern media however is a rollercoaster ride for the brain, with perpetual fast context switches, often within a minute or even less, moving all experience away from the body. Point in case
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that we are about to reach "peak digital" and that (mental) health issues related to perpetual computer and smartphone usage will become an epidemic.
Hardly smart phone and computer use is just a scapegoat for oppressive conditions of modern society so people are checking out into social media. AKA unrealistic demands of schools and the workplace have people checking out in droves.
One of the first? (Score:2)
Hmm... Then could you please explain these studies?
NIH studies
- Association between mobile phone use and inattention in 7102 Chinese adolescents: a population-based cross-sectional study [nih.gov] (2014)
- Mobile Phone Use, Blood Lead Levels, and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Symptoms in Children: A Longitudinal Study [nih.gov] (2013)
Blogs
Study: Smartphone Alerts Increase Inattention – and Hyperactivity [virginia.edu] (2016)
Just because you change the word "digital media" from "mobile phone" AKA smartphone, that doesn't m
Frequent mental task switching is learned (Score:2)
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In the 90s I worked for a government department, that apart from anything else, assessed applications for eligibility to support payments for children with illness and disability. Diagnoses of ADD and ADHD had spiked in recent years and we saw a number of papers that were starting to study both the illness and the apparent rise in prevalence.
One factor that was suggested was that there were fewer children leaving school to take up an apprenticeship or learn a trade as blue collar work decreased and was deva
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...but drugs are not the answer.
Pfft, there's not one question for which drugs are not the answer...
...oh wait, you were talking about Ritalin...
...my bad, carry on!
Translation (Score:1)
Translation: The kids were ignoring teachers and parents and other adults.
Solution: Stop expecting kids not to act like kids.
Screen-time leads to low attention span eh? (Score:2)
The same kids that cant seem to pay attention to a boring lecture are perfectly capable to playing the latest AA shooting game for hours on end without blinking (with almost no noticeable drop in accuracy) These younger people can intuit a brand new UI in a matter of seconds. They see patterns with a glance that takes us older nerds at least a small amount of concentration.
The way we learn has been evolving at a hyper-accelerated pace since the personal computer hit critical mass.
It's not the kids. It's not
Well intentioned BS (Score:1)
The proximate cause of ADHD is, in fact, the inability of neurons in certain regions of the b
Adults? (Score:4, Interesting)
What about adults? :P
Is this long-term? (Score:2)
How about grownups? (Score:1)