Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is a common problem. While rates appear to have leveled off over the past decade, they haven’t fallen — and are still well above historical norms. As with any health condition that seems to “show up” suddenly across society, we have to wonder if there’s something about the modern world that is triggering the rise in ADHD. Much has been written about how diet and other relevant environmental inputs have changed in recent decades. What about another, arguably more recent change – technology? Does technology increase or worsen ADHD? To answer that, we must go back. We must consider Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in an ancestral context.
Living with ADHD Then and Now
A 2008 study found that among two rural tribes of Kenya – one nomad, the other who settled in villages – those with genetic markers of ADHD lived in nomadic (and nested) groups. more successful) have a higher body weight and more lean mass (muscle). Their genetic drive actually improved their ability to contribute to the group and succeed in nomadic, hunting and foraging environments, while in the sedentary group, those with milder signs of ADHD and less upbringing than.
What is this genetic marker? It is a variant of the dopamine receptor 4 — DRD4-7R — that dims the intracellular response to dopamine in the gene carrier. What does Dopamine have to do with ADHD? Dopamine is often referred to as the pleasure neurotransmitter, but it is actually a motivational neurotransmitter. Dopamine is a desire Chemicals force us to find, make, move, to make things happen. To do so, it activates reward pathways in the brain using other chemicals.
When you “win” at anything, you get a dopamine hit. The use of dopamine for the purpose of sustaining the action helps you to win. It has to keep you moving towards bigger wins and bigger rewards despite the turmoil and difficulty. For example, dopamine increases the fatigue threshold during intense exercise. It really makes you stronger and resistant to sufferings and hard times, and not only in exercise but also in business, hobbies, everything that requires effort.
This is where ADHD comes in. If dopamine doesn’t “work” in a person with ADHD, they’ll have a hard time getting through the initial drudgery and moments of getting through something, whether it’s studying, writing, or working. Follow up with an idea for a business.
The genetic marker in question increases a person’s propensity for novelty, thrill-seeking, and even food and substance abuse problems. In other words, it pushes them to “easier wins”. This dynamic makes sense in a hunting and gathering context, where you must be willing to expose yourself to dangerous situations, explore new places, and relentlessly pursue food and food. There are a lot of moving parts in the wilderness, and the missions you have to do before you do are intense and intense. They are closer to video games than studying for an exam.
That’s why the Kenyan nomads with the ADHD signature did so well and the Kenyan villagers with the ADHD signature didn’t: the nomadic environment set up for ADHD and the sedentary life did not. Consider consumer technology in the modern industrial world instead of rural Kenya or the US in 2022. Consider what stores a child with ADHD might have accessed years ago and what children can reach now. How might a child direct his energy today compared to 30 or 30,000 years ago?
- 30,000 years ago: Nature, foraging, hunting, exploring the surroundings, swimming, climbing, fighting, playing, learning about plants, making tools.
- 30 years ago: TV, video/computer games, classmates, friends, unstructured fun, sports.
- Today: social media, smartphones, computers, tablets, TVs, video/computer games, play in, multiplayer games, playdates, travel sports.
Technology and ADHD
Today, you will be hard-pressed to find children playing outdoors in many areas, let alone children playing without adult supervision. Their lives are manicured and organized. They have fewer “natural” stores for their attention, and much more artificial or technological stores. And tech outlets like video games, social media, and smartphones are designed to trigger the kind of “easy” dopamine access that people with ADHD are so drawn to.
Maybe it’s not the technology that increases ADHD. It is for children with ADHD or predisposition to it, technology and social media create a self-reinforcing outlet, an easy source of dopamine without much effort, can lead to breakdowns. Technology certainly can get worse ADHD. Using technology, especially at night, has been shown to worsen sleep quality and quantity. This effect was evident in children with ADHD. A person’s sleep duration is directly related to ADHD symptoms. Technology use is also displacing physical activity, another risk factor for ADHD. The less you move, the less you play, the less you engage in intense physical activity, the more likely your ADHD will be.
And as with anything, the problem with ADHD is how it presents itself. Are you ignoring all responsibilities in life and playing an open world RPG video game for 15 hours straight as your life crumbles all around you? That’s a problem. Are you playing an open world RPG video game for 15 hours straight while thousands of paid subscribers follow you? That’s a little different. You are doing something you love and earning an income from it. The physical problems of overexposure to artificial light and sitting inactive on the couch and avoiding all natural light still apply, but the life results of being a video game streamer higher mortality than the result of just being a gamer.
As you can see, there’s a lot of nuance here. How ADHD is manifested varies greatly, even if it looks the same to outsiders. One big misconception about ADHD is that it keeps you from focusing on anything. No, what it does is make it harder for you to focus on anything that doesn’t appeal to you. If it’s related to hard work, if it’s a tagline, someone with ADHD will have a hard time sticking to it. Remember how dopamine helps people endure difficult situations, like during intense exercise? If dopamine isn’t as intense (as happens with many people with ADHD), fatigue will be more unbearable. Someone with ADHD might go into hyperfocus mode if they’re really interested in something.
The point is that hard work is a part of life. Many things worth doing and learning require some degree of hard work before they start to be interesting or successful. In short, technology can exacerbate ADHD and make it much harder to overcome that struggle to achieve good things:
- It can interfere with sleep, and sleep deprivation is a risk factor for ADHD.
- It can be an all-too-easy dopamine escape, distracting you from more meaningful and productive pursuits.
- It can take the quality time a person would spend to be physically active, which has been shown to improve cognitive and executive function in ADHD.
People with ADHD want action. They need intense bursts of activity and participation. That used to happen in the real world simply as part of growing up and living. In today’s supposedly neutral, streamlined, less energetic, indoor lifestyle, actual action is unlikely. The most reliable way today for the average person with ADHD to get a similar mental fix is through technology: video games, social media, Youtube, TikTok, messaging apps.
That’s the barrier you have to overcome to lessen the negative impact of technology in ADHD. You need to bring adventure back into your life. You need physical activity. You need competition. You need intensity and, maybe even a little danger.
Do you have ADHD or know someone with ADHD? How has technology affected their results?
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