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TikTok videos leave teens thinking they have rare mental disorders (2021)

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Re: TikTok videos leave teens thinking they have rare mental disorders (2021)

#41
post #15

For all of human history across every culture, parents would do what they could to keep their kids away from “bad influences”. You move to certain areas, go to certain places, are members of certain organizations etc. which serve to socialize your kids with kids from families that have shared values. You don’t talk to strangers. With the internet and especially media like TikTok parents are exposing their kids to unt…

> With the internet and especially media like TikTok parents are exposing their kids to untold bad influences Some parents. Elite schools in Manhattan and Palo Alto send home fliers that parents (or at least those I know) read. Screen time of all types is monitored. And the children have a somewhat hilarious self-protecting pride in their control over digital intake. (Most of them. Thinking of two brothers, one who e…

You don't have to be elite to be an involved parent. You just have to be involved. I have 2 so I know how easy it is to break out the digital babysitter, but even with the small amount I give mine I can see the influence it has, and I don't like it. I grew up with unfettered access to the internet before social media and now see how much it damaged me, I can only imagine what it is doing to kids today.

Re: TikTok videos leave teens thinking they have rare mental disorders (2021)

#42
post #15

For all of human history across every culture, parents would do what they could to keep their kids away from “bad influences”. You move to certain areas, go to certain places, are members of certain organizations etc. which serve to socialize your kids with kids from families that have shared values. You don’t talk to strangers. With the internet and especially media like TikTok parents are exposing their kids to unt…

With good reason. After puberty starts, your only way to influence the culture your child absorbs is which culture you allow access to.

This is proved by science, of course this is not easy to communicate to a child of that age that is a culture demonstration of yours how to handle.

Re: TikTok videos leave teens thinking they have rare mental disorders (2021)

#43
post #16
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tiktok and pop-culture generally make me very skeptical on "ADHD", the so-called "spectrum" and "neurodivergence" generally. I'm not saying these things don't exist, but much of it seems very difficult to falsify -- which needs to be the gold standard of determining these sort of things; e.g. "By what process can someone reasonably determine that they are NOT neurodivergent?"

> much of it seems very difficult to falsify It's quite straightforward, albeit involved (as in technically easy, but takes time) to falsify. You have to work with a licensed medical professional who will evaluate traits, strengths, and difficulties, and to what extent they impact functioning as a person in society. Basically, are they "well-adjusted"? If they make it through school, college and adulthood without a t…

> Basically, are they "well-adjusted"?

This is a radically behaviorist interpretation.

A common criticism of the diagnostics for ADHD (and Autism, for that matter) is that it ignores the person’s internal experience.

I was formally diagnosed with ADHD in 2017. I’d been visibly quite successful in that time, but at the expense of my own mental health because I was fighting a constant uphill battle. ADHD was a set of shackles I didn’t even know I had.

Re: TikTok videos leave teens thinking they have rare mental disorders (2021)

#44
post #7

Tik Tok is the reason I've been told several times I have ADHD. Pretty sure I don't! This phenomenon is so infuriating. The only half-convincing defense I've heard of it is that it could, maybe, theoretically, disseminate information about illnesses to people who don't have the money to see a professional, but the other effects are so much worse it doesn't seem worth it.

Tiktok and pop-culture generally make me very skeptical on "ADHD", the so-called "spectrum" and "neurodivergence" generally. I'm not saying these things don't exist, but much of it seems very difficult to falsify -- which needs to be the gold standard of determining these sort of things; e.g. "By what process can someone reasonably determine that they are NOT neurodivergent?"

There are standard diagnostic tests to falsify whether you have ADHD, that give a binary result as to whether the patient has ADHD/ADD. It is very easy to take one of these tests and determine whether you experience the symptoms

Re: TikTok videos leave teens thinking they have rare mental disorders (2021)

#45
post #40
post #15

For all of human history across every culture, parents would do what they could to keep their kids away from “bad influences”. You move to certain areas, go to certain places, are members of certain organizations etc. which serve to socialize your kids with kids from families that have shared values. You don’t talk to strangers. With the internet and especially media like TikTok parents are exposing their kids to unt…

I for one will be giving my child unfettered and unmonitored access to the internet as I had growing up. I will be suplementing that experience with plenty of education on how to avoid some of the pitfalls, but I find the best way to learn that stuff is to experience it yourself.

Not sure how old you are but the internet of today is not the same as it was when I was growing up.

Re: TikTok videos leave teens thinking they have rare mental disorders (2021)

#46
I recently discovered "systems" people via Reddit (r/SystemsCringe) will searching for systems engineering. The core belief seems to be that the individual has "multiple people" living in the same body. They've devised a whole language for talking about it as well[0].

This reminds me of the "otherkin" fad that occurred primarily on Tumblr about a decade ago[1]. It was where teenagers believed themselves to not be humans but rather other creatures like dragons, bears, and so on. I remember reading about one girl who argued with her mother over whether or not she needed to eat diamonds because she was a dragon.

0. https://old.reddit.com/r/SystemsCringe/comments/w95q5q/alter...

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otherkin

Edit: Corrected a typo. Added more explanation of how I discovered that sub. It seems some are misinterpreting it as a judgment.

Re: TikTok videos leave teens thinking they have rare mental disorders (2021)

#47
post #11
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tiktok and pop-culture generally make me very skeptical on "ADHD", the so-called "spectrum" and "neurodivergence" generally. I'm not saying these things don't exist, but much of it seems very difficult to falsify -- which needs to be the gold standard of determining these sort of things; e.g. "By what process can someone reasonably determine that they are NOT neurodivergent?"

Part of this is just giving labels to what happens when we are glued to screens and addictive apps and internet media, isn't it? It strikes me as something that is partly happening to me too, I can't really put down the addictive medias available. Of course things in professional or personal life may suffer when you have an addiction. Of course medication could help one control it, etc.

Not really since ADHD has been around for much longer than addictive apps and the internet media.

Re: TikTok videos leave teens thinking they have rare mental disorders (2021)

#48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> With the internet and especially media like TikTok parents are exposing their kids to untold bad influences Some parents. Elite schools in Manhattan and Palo Alto send home fliers that parents (or at least those I know) read. Screen time of all types is monitored. And the children have a somewhat hilarious self-protecting pride in their control over digital intake. (Most of them. Thinking of two brothers, one who e…

You don't have to be elite to be an involved parent. You just have to be involved. I have 2 so I know how easy it is to break out the digital babysitter, but even with the small amount I give mine I can see the influence it has, and I don't like it. I grew up with unfettered access to the internet before social media and now see how much it damaged me, I can only imagine what it is doing to kids today.

How did it damage you? And what do you think was the most negative influence?

Re: TikTok videos leave teens thinking they have rare mental disorders (2021)

#49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> With the internet and especially media like TikTok parents are exposing their kids to untold bad influences Some parents. Elite schools in Manhattan and Palo Alto send home fliers that parents (or at least those I know) read. Screen time of all types is monitored. And the children have a somewhat hilarious self-protecting pride in their control over digital intake. (Most of them. Thinking of two brothers, one who e…

You don't have to be elite to be an involved parent. You just have to be involved. I have 2 so I know how easy it is to break out the digital babysitter, but even with the small amount I give mine I can see the influence it has, and I don't like it. I grew up with unfettered access to the internet before social media and now see how much it damaged me, I can only imagine what it is doing to kids today.

Genuine question: how did it "damage" you?

Re: TikTok videos leave teens thinking they have rare mental disorders (2021)

#50
post #34
post #15

For all of human history across every culture, parents would do what they could to keep their kids away from “bad influences”. You move to certain areas, go to certain places, are members of certain organizations etc. which serve to socialize your kids with kids from families that have shared values. You don’t talk to strangers. With the internet and especially media like TikTok parents are exposing their kids to unt…

I think there's an interesting phenomenon where the lower bound of "bad influences" has gotten much lower in a lot of places that used to be safe. Previously, bad influences were limited to what your local neighborhood kids were telling your kid. This could be bad, they could be torturing cats or something, but that wasn't likely. And that floor could be raised by society as a whole improving. Now, with TikTok, the o…

Well, other bad influences were reading Bukowski or Ginsberg too young but I mostly agree.

This is the change that has never occurred in human history. Every thread brings up that all complaints about this new media were applied to past forms of media.

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