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• 1 2017-04-17T15:30:18-07:00 Behavior and Media Misconceptions 11 Behavior and ADHD often go hand in hand when discussing ADHD through media. Whether behavior is recognized a cause or a symptom of ADHD is variant across mediums. plain 2017-04-22T07:31:02-07:00

  I have noticed that behavior and ADHD are commonly mediatized together when discussing ADHD. Behavior is arguably the most notable characteristic of a child with ADHD or similar symptoms. In most of the stereotypical cases behavior is described as hyperactive, angry, uncontrollable, and unpredictable, making it a huge distraction in a classroom setting. Some media sources even go as far as saying that ADHD behaviors contribute to the likelihood of a child being incarcerated later on in life.

   

  When ADHD behavioral issues are discussed on social media, people who post are often consider behavior to be a controllable variable that can be managed with dedication and work. Posters may describe ADHD behavior as "lazy" and being used as an excuse to get our of responsibilities and work. The following are posts from a Reddit thread on ADHD. The original poster has had a perception that behavior and ADHD go hand in hand and if you can "buckle down" you can fix your ADHD engrained in them by their parent. We see a response to this post from a person with ADHD who feels that their behavior is the cause of their ADHD. Perhaps media forms like this have caused this person to feel that their behavior is the issue and they are just lazy.

   

   

  Here we see that the original poster's parent is arguing that if you "buckle down" you too can cure your ADHD like they did. Viewpoints like these do not show sensitivity towards a person who struggles to control their behavior and may have a medical condition. These posts can be toxic to readers because many of them probably searched the topic of ADHD to learn some information about it. Given that Reddit is not a source I would recommend to get firsthand accurate information from, there are many people who do use it as a form of information because it is easy to access and read and it can facilitate conversation about pretty much anything.

   

  This screenshot is taken from the same post and displays the power of social media on influencing one's view of themselves. The original post is about a father's opinion that is one-sided and leaves little room for someone to think that behavior may actually be uncontrollable for someone with ADHD or symptoms similar to it. Since the original post had so many comments agreeing, I can imagine that the person that made this comment felt overwhelmed and defeated by the words of others suggesting that they were just lazy and that's why they were not successful.

   

  Similar posts are constantly circulating on social media and can have big impacts on their audience. It is important as a parent to remember that not everything you see on social media is true as it is not as 100% trustworthy source of information. There are many opinionated people writing posts but they DO NOT need to influence your opinions!