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Interviewer: Social media can be a powerful tool in our digital age but its effects on individuals with ADHD are still being understood. Today we explore how platforms like TikTok or Instagram impact those with ADHD and whether social media can exacerbate their symptoms or if it plays a role in developing the disorder. Joining us today is Braun Tueller, a PAC with Huntsman Mental Health Institute who treats many patients with ADHD.
Now, Braun, let's start with the basics. What is kind of just baseline ADHD? Maybe you've heard of it you don't really know what it is. And how can it start to be impacted by social media?
Understanding ADHD and Its Impact
Braun: Yeah. So most people know what the acronym means you know attention deficit hyperactivity disorder but really it's a little bit of a misnomer. So people with ADHD may appear to be inattentive but really it comes down to issues with impulse control and memory consolidation. To put it bluntly, people have a hard time paying attention to the right thing at the right time.
Interviewer: And I guess for me just being kind of this outsider it seems like social media kind of really weaves its way into those two things like the short-term attention spans and impulse control. Can you talk a little bit more about how those two things kind of relate to or impact each other?
Braun: Yeah. I mean so when you think about the way that social media operates we've all heard of the algorithm you know that there's this algorithm and you have to remember what these platforms are designed to do. And they're literally designed to hold your attention to keep you scrolling to keep you from going one page to the next to see what the next thing is going to be. And when you pair that process with an ADHD brain or somebody who may be predisposed to ADHD symptoms it has an accelerant effect. So if you're on social media what social media is teaching you is that if it's not immediately rewarding if it's not immediately interesting then you should skip to the next thing swipe and move on. If it is interesting you know it lasts for 30 to 60 seconds, maybe a couple of minutes at most but then you move on to the next thing.
And so what you're doing is that trains the brain that it doesn't need to pay attention for very long and that the things that it should pay attention to should be things that are highly stimulating and highly rewarding. And so in a weird way, it's sort of training the brain to function like an ADHD brain. So people who may not have biological ADHD may start to pick up some traits of ADHD because they're like "Well I don't know how to pay attention. I don't know how to just sort of sit and not be stimulated." And then of course people who do have ADHD the excessive social media use I should clarify by saying, may actually exacerbate ADHD symptoms.
Effects of Social Media on ADHD
Interviewer: Well why don't we go a little deeper into that? So for people who maybe their wiring is a little different right? The neurodivergence... what can social media be to a person with that kind of wiring?
Braun: It can make it worse. So I think the best example is to compare it to what's called working memory training. So there's this therapy treatment called working memory training which essentially is playing these little games that teach your brain to pay attention and maintain attention. And there's actually some good data that shows that it can help counter and help improve ADHD symptoms when used appropriately and regularly.
Social media essentially does the opposite. So like I said before it teaches the brain how to not sustain attention. And so if you have that predisposition it's sort of like throwing gas on a fire. It's going to make things worse. It's going to make it harder to focus, concentrate, and pay attention. You know, you play how you practice. I heard that in all of my sports growing up, was, you play how you practice. If you're practicing several hours a day of, "I don't need to pay attention," 30 seconds a couple minutes max, when you go to play and you know when we say play we're talking about maybe in a testing environment or maybe at work when you go to play and you're like "Oh I don't know how to focus and concentrate and stay on task for an hour" because you've been practicing differently and that's just going to be even worse if you do have ADHD.
Balancing Social Media Use
Interviewer: Now that being said it's hard to say that any technology is all good all bad. Are there any positive aspects that can come from social media?
Braun: Yeah. Social media is amazing. I mean me and my wife joke sometimes because we're like "Man I feel like I learn more from watching TikTok videos and like life hacks than you know anywhere else." It all has to do with balance you know. You want to be able to do things in balance. So yeah people with ADHD, people without ADHD social media can be a wonderful place of education of learning of connecting of humor of news. I mean it really is whatever you want it to be at the end of the day. It just is figuring out how to use it appropriately and in a balanced way. You know this is one of the things that I preach to my patients but anything when taken to excess can become a bad thing. Anything. But yeah it can be a wonderful resource. It can provide a lot of support.
You know one of the things about mental health issues is a lot of times people feel very isolated. You know somebody who's depressed or anxious will often feel like "Nobody knows what I'm experiencing. I'm alone with this." You know somebody with ADHD often experiences the same that you know "My experience is different than everybody else's." And when you get on social media and you find support groups or like-minded people it can be an absolutely wonderful resource for help and support.
Managing Social Media Usage
Interviewer: What are some of the ways that people can maybe manage their social media use?
Braun: Yeah. So there are a couple of things that I personally recommend. The number one thing that I recommend to people is to not have their social media use happen in bed or in their sleeping area in general. You want your sleep space to be a dedicated sleep space. When you're using social media or really doing anything else besides sleeping where you're supposed to be sleeping you're going to compromise your sleep. And sleep makes the world go round.
It's so easy to get sucked down the rabbit hole of swiping and clicking and you're supposed to be sleeping but it's super easy. So I think that's the number one time that I hear my patients say "Oh yeah I spend a lot of time on social media." It's usually in bed it's usually you know at the end of the day or in the early morning when they wake up. So you can cut a huge chunk of social media time just by saying "Meh I'm not going to have it where I sleep." So that's one.
Another one is to take advantage of the built-in protections that a lot of these services provide. A lot of these some of us avoid because we're like ignorance is bliss. But a lot of our devices have timers have analytics that will let you know like this is how much time you've spent today or this week or whatever. Turn those on. Make use of those. You know you might be surprised to see what percentage of time from week to week you're actually spending on your device and awareness is half the battle. Just being aware of like "Oh I need to cut back. I'm spending a lot of time on this." So setting timers and utilizing those built-in tools can be another big help.
And then I'd say the last one the last sort of trick that I would recommend is to set designated social media times. We live in a world of convenience now and so it's so easy you know . . . I mean for me for example if I'm in between patients I'm caught up on my paperwork what do I do? Do I just pick up my phone and swipe it open to see what's going on or do I do something different? But it's so accessible and it's so easy to do that you know those minutes add up. And so if you have a designated time like "Okay I'm only going to check my newsfeed between this time and this time or during my lunch break or whenever" that can also be another way to cut back on social media use.