Linkage between ADHD and exposure to digital media?

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I ran across an article today that discussed a linkage between the amount of exposure to digital media and ADHD.

A study released Tuesday by the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests a direct relationship between computer screen time among teens and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

The two-year study looked at a group of more than 2,500 high school students from Los Angeles whose ability to pay attention waned as they became increasingly involved in digital media platforms over the duration of the experiment, the Los Angeles Times reported.

For every notch a teens’ digital engagement rose, their reported ADHD symptoms rose by 10 percent, the study suggested. While significant digital media usage does not definitively cause ADHD, it does seem to induce symptoms that would warrant such a diagnoses or pharmaceutical treatment, the study said.

Link seen between ADHD and digital media: study

What does the community think?

I work with elementary school age kids. They have extremely short attention span. Getting them to stay on task is a challenge. Many of these kids spend most of their time outside of school playing on cell phones, tablets, and computers. I think spending too much time playing on these devices instead of playing outside more is what is causing these kids to be so damn hyper and inattentive in the classroom.

My attention span has shrivelled since I got a high-speed link, and I had decades of habits to ruin. I almost never finish reading a book now.

Which really comes first; exposure to digital media or ADHD?

And didn't ADHD exist before the advent of digital media?

I can remember when Tom & Jerry cartoons were being blamed for hyperactivity...

More studies need to be done.

I don't like things like ADHD being blamed on things because it makes the condition look fake, and ADHD is not fake.

I can blame drought for a withered plant, or claim that poverty leads to hunger without anyone yelling "fake." Most things are harder to believe in if there is no visible cause.

Yeah, I think it's unclear if it actually makes it worse or if people with ADHD are naturally drawn to it. I mean when I was competitive gaming, I met plenty of people who like me had ADHD and it was no coincidence.

What I found most curious is in gaming, for those that don't have ADHD, it is common to take Adderall off-prescription because it gives you ADHD like symptoms.

When I was a kid not only did many adults think we had no attention span because of watching TV, but that we were ruining our eyesight from sitting too close to the TV screen. But the latter is actually wrong and totally backwards. Kids sit close to the screen because they are nearsighted and have trouble seeing it from a distance, just like they have trouble seeing anything else unless it's close up.

I think the same is true about digital media. It doesn't cause the condition, people with ADHD just find it easier. It's so frustrating and difficult when you can't focus because the smallest thing is a distraction that it's a relief to find something you can use to tune out the world around you.

This discussion reminds me of trying to explain that continuous alcohol consumption causes problems to someone who needs to know about their own life. They have a dozen other things to try eliminating first. Screens are addictive, people.

I just meant that when people start blaming things for neurological disorders like ADHD, people will start thinking that ADHD doesn't exist and that it's only caused by upbringing environment and so can be cured or changed.

You can also blame withered plants for drought, or claim that being hungry leads to poverty, and some people will believe you!

Good for them. Careful re-planting has reversed desertification, and hungry students are less likely to do well in life.

that's informational overload changing behavioural/ thinking patterns. ADHD is there regardless as it's a developmental *dis*order of the brain. meaning, that if you have informational overload + ADHD you're more f****d than everyone else. diagnosis can be tricky and confusing process tho. our generation is more overloaded than previous ones so it must be tempting to say adhd is on the rise but i doubt that's the case. informational overload IS tho.

from someone who is both a millennial suffering from IO and has ADHD and struggles twice as much than normal folks.

My son was diagnosed with ADHD 30 years ago - a bit before he got his first Nintendo and hand-me-down Commodore 64!

I was gonna post something here but then I saw there were 13 replies already and I lost interest.