Whether it’s about politics, a recipe, natural disasters or an animal reunited with its owner, it’s no secret we turn to social media to express our thoughts and gain insight about people and events. Could social media use also shed light on people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder?
Yes, according to researchers from the University of Pennsylvania who suggest that delving into social media habits — specifically the wording used online by people with ADHD — may provide people with the disorder and medical experts with a deeper understanding about related feelings and behaviors.
Lyle Ungar, a professor of computer and information science at the University of Pennsylvania who was involved in the study, says that social media provides “insight that you otherwise don’t often get from classic questionnaires.” He explains that people, whether they have ADHD or not, spend a significant amount of time communicating not only on phones, but also on the likes of Facebook and Twitter. Such interactions, he says, “make it easy for people to reveal a tremendous amount about who they are and how they’re feeling,” including people who self-declare as having ADHD or other disorders. It’s sometimes easier for these people to express themselves more openly online than directly to a medical professional, he says.
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Insight From Social Media Posts
Sharath Chandra Guntuku, a postdoctoral researcher of computer and information science at the University of Pennsylvania who was also involved in the study, adds that paying attention to social media posts can be telling. He explains that feelings expressed online in the moment can be informative since they “might have lost [their] way by the time someone meets with a doctor.” In that case, expression of feelings may be delayed or never conveyed at all.
Guntuku explains that for people with ADHD, paying closer attention to social media expressions may help them gain more perspective about themselves. For the same reasons, it could also provide clinicians helpful feedback. “A summary of a person’s social media language and habits may mean more insight about the person,” he says.
The researchers observed that people with ADHD were more inclined to use wording on Twitter linked to lack of focus, self-regulation, failure and intention — but not by using those exact words. Instead, subtle feelings were expressed through words that touched on these ADHD-specific symptoms such as “disappointed,” “cry” and “hate” more frequently than those without the disorder. Ungar adds that people with ADHD who were less agreeable and less pleasant tended to use word choices reflecting such personality traits.
Additionally, the researchers found that people with ADHD were more likely to use Twitter from midnight until 6 a.m. — a time when most people are asleep.
Social Media Immediacy, ADHD Predictive Behaviors
Dr. David W. Goodman, assistant professor in the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and the director of the Adult Attention Deficit Disorder Center of Maryland, calls the research “interesting and very sophisticated,” touting its ability “to parse out language” used on Twitter and yield high prediction rates when picking out ADHD individuals versus non-ADHD individuals. People with ADHD, Goodman says, are often ruled by a “ready, fire, aim” mindset instead of “ready, aim, fire” thoughts, so conducting more vocabulary and phrase analyses could potentially lead to greater understandings about ADHD predictive behaviors.
Julia Breur, a licensed clinical psychotherapist in Boca Raton, Florida, says that social media use by ADHD individuals presents an interesting dynamic. On one hand, she explains that there’s an addictive component that can be satisfying for someone with the disorder who enjoys the immediacy of rewards and social interactions that might otherwise be challenging to develop. At the same time, she adds that “social media can make a person with ADHD feel insignificant,” a feeling that may arise when observing other people’s online posts and subsequently concluding that those individuals are having more fun than they are.
People with ADHD who experience compulsivity may react and respond to a social media posting quickly and soon after regret what they posted as a response.
[See: 8 Things You Didn’t Know About Counseling.]
More knowledge about word use on social media, as well as any self-satisfying and addictive components, may lead to improved counseling efforts for someone with ADHD, says Goodman, who is a former CHADD board member currently involved in ADHD public awareness campaigns with the organization. CHADD, or Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, is a national ADHD resource.
For example, Goodman says that learning about online habits could help someone with the disorder discover more about their feelings and behaviors, including the tendency to act in haste and instantly post something before first thinking through his or her actions — and consequences stemming from those actions. He adds that there are also concerns with personal information overexposure. “Therapy could help to interrupt that process,” Goodman says.
Apps: ‘One of the Simplest Interventions’
As for Ungar and Guntuku, they have their minds set on developing apps that offer insight into a range of conditions. From ADHD and stress to opioid addiction and anxiety, it’s their hope that each app will take personality traits, condition severity and experiences that trigger symptoms into consideration.
They say that the apps will likely come in three waves. The first one will probably address burnout, and the second will focus on stress. An app for ADHD is “down the road” following the first two, Guntuku says. But he maintains that just because ADHD is likely the last app in this wave, that’s not to say that the previous two can’t benefit someone with this disorder. Ungar says that stress and burnout are certainly part of an ADHD person’s life; “monitoring stress is helpful for the ADHD community and turning to an app can be one of the simplest interventions to address feelings and ask ‘What can I do now that’s easy and quick?'”
[See: 10 Concerns Parents Have About Their Kids’ Health.]
Tips to Be Mindful of Online Use
Goodman says encouraging people with ADHD to talk about social media involvement is beneficial. Discussing the reasons for firing off texts and ways to cut back on that habit might mean decreasing the amount of misinterpretations and alienations that could occur. Behaviorally, he says it’s a wise idea to turn off cellphones before going to bed or, better yet, to leave the phone anywhere in the house provided it’s not near a bed.
Breur suggests setting an alarm to monitor time spent online, especially when multiple media devices are in use. She also advises people with ADHD to take steps to “reduce post regrets,” such as being selective about responding. “First, type out your response and send it to yourself as a text or an email — then read and take time to decide if you want to officially post.” If internet and social media addiction persists, she recommends psychotherapy. “I recommend cognitive behavioral therapy which is also used for depression, anxiety and substance addiction.”
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