Post

Conversation

Derek Thompson
@DKThomp
ADHD is real … but these sort of descriptions pathologize normal behavior and persuade healthy ppl they have disorders that they don’t. “If your brain chases interesting non-important things [like entertainment] rather than important boring things [like doing your taxes] you might have ADHD” is a good way to diagnose 99% of the human population with an attention disorder. It’s very normal to hate doing your taxes and also very normal to love internet videos. There are multi-hundred-billion dollar economies devoted to this principle.
Quote
Andrew Hopper
@andrewhopper
Replying to @andrewhopper
2/ ADHD brains are interest-driven, not importance-driven Non-ADHD brains respond to importance: "I need to do taxes because they're due." ADHD brains chase interest: "Taxes are boring, but this cat video is fascinating!" This fundamental difference explains why willpower
Show more
0:58
Last editedOpens edit history
106.4K
Views
David Watson 🥑
Post your reply

Reuben Rodriguez
@ReubenR80027912
lol yes. “If you find it hard to do challenging math or your boring desk job, you might have a condition cured by prescription uppers that are super fun”…is quite a pitch Problem is this is a gateway to saying “any medicine invented after 1970 is a lie to keep you sick”
4.1K
Zac Hill
@zdch
Yes. The other thing it does is encourage the intrinsicization of a bunch of maladaptive traits, many of which are malleable, for basic Carol Dweck-esque reasons. It’s quite bad to be like “oh I just AM this way,” <throws up hands>, when ‘this way’ comes with significant downside
991
Bryan DeHenau🇺🇸🇺🇦
@dehenau_
So… if you have ever seen me working at a very HIGH level… (running 3 businesses while driving) .. and conversely working at a very LOW level (leaving for work without my briefcase 💼). You will see what ADHD ACTUALLY looks like😐 Had it my whole life, thank God for Ritilin
814
Jack Seiden
@thebeltwayagent
I legit had adhd in school, I’d pace around the classroom, got my self kicked out of two schools, and has generally had a negative effect on my life, I hate how everyone who maybe occasionally gets distracted now gets put on uppers, I’m not even on any I’ve just learned coping
378
Dingo Serious
@DingoSerious
Most mental illnesses, even severe ones like schizophrenia, are extremes on a spectrum. Of course, this makes them no less real. But a lot of nuance is required to accurately describe these things without over-generalizing.
86
Chris Clark
@chrisclark1729
Frankly, I find the ability to routinely do non-interesting things a far more disordered behavior than what's being described here. A take I routinely share when people make comments about high energy, high agency 8 year old.
37
Steve Faktor
@ideafaktory
There is also a multibillion dollar industry in medicalizing and medicating new illnesses. We're just pawns in an industrial battle for our consumption, however that's achieved.
Quote
Steve Faktor
@ideafaktory
Important - Why French Kids Don't Have ADHD - bit.ly/2JM2QnQ - A Disease Called Childhood (book) - ti.me/1DHfAkC - Running from Ritalin - bit.ly/2MqBtBP - We Have Turned Childhood Into A Mental Disorder & Ruining Our Kids bit.ly/2t8TM5p
559
Elijah Hodges
@thetishbite01
ADHD is a way to put men down. ADHD is a pile of horse manure. Watch Laughing You're Way to a Better Marriage by Mark Gunger to understand the brain of men compared to women. Maybe we should come up with a name for their disfunctional brain...
280
nws
@NeastWS
to be diagnosed with ADHD you need to show at least 6 of 18 symptoms, and at least 15% of the population shows any given symptom, which means that when you add it up, over 270% of the population has ADHD!
Image
97
Mig Greengard
@chessninja
And it’s even easier to pathologize kids' behaviors to anxious parents looking for solutions. We were literally told by a Dr that our 7 yr old would fall behind in school and maturity, be socially maladapted, and eventually turn to drugs if he didn’t get ADHD meds. 7!
86
chase 🇺🇸
@wildstar33
You are exaggerating the claim. Yes, all people experience this occasionally. I am physically incapable of doing anything else. I can stare at a literal life requirement - homework, dishes, etc. - for days trying to force myself to do it without success. Meds fix a lot of it.
290
Greg Ferenstein
@ferenstein
Hmm, I do think there is an epidemic of ADHD. there’s probably a lot of causes. Mine is caused by a sleep disorder and there’s lots of reasons for that (rise of sleep apnea and malformed jaws). Adhd is just the symptom of many things adversely impacting our minds.
21
Justin Lepinski
@JustinLepinski
I actually took that is if you know your taxes are due and still find yourself watching a movie, might be adhd. Later he talks about being late being a sign too when you do everything reasonable to be on time and still aren’t. Very different than what you took from it.
323
Phalanx
@davidclarkphel1
if you think interests don't overlap with importance, then you have a quarrel with civilization. Epicurus argued that pleasure isn't decadent but leads to long term utilitarian benefits: Healthy food tastes good. Exercise is fun. Romantic love has a carnal component
634
EC-10 Condemned
@pjcookland
The real problem is trying to group behavioral disorders together which should be delineated into distinct classifications/subclassifications. Relatively, they have little in common other than the nebulous "concentration, procrastination, energetic, distraction" labels
50
Nyadnar#17
@Nyadnar17
Its also a lie. ADHD is dysfunction in your ability to control what you focus on. Interest has fuck all to do with it. I watch them get “stuck” reading books they are bored to tears with or be utterly unable to focus on a show they love.
547
bulbussy420
@Sorrybadgrammar
It’s also just like an insulting reduction of what the struggle of having ADHD is like. Its not as simple as “I don’t wanna do my taxes cus boring,” for some people with ADHD—it’s hard to do things that are FUN in the first place
111
Roberto “Velvet Fog” Martooni
@RobbyMartini
This is what the Democrats have done to us - you have to be a protected class to be important to them, so you have to make things up in order to be important. Being regular is being anathema to them.
13
mamma says!
@mammasaysstuff
The brain is complicated! I know few people (mostly accountants and engineers) who get a dopamine rush from doing important but traditionally boring tasks. And, isn’t that really our problem now? The pursuit of bigger and bigger dopamine hits, because we are a desensitized,
14
Marquis ChaCha
@ChachaMarquis
if everyone has the same condition it’s no longer a disorder. its just human nature. the real disorder here is internet brain disease.
9