A recent study has revealed that a significant portion of popular content about Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) on TikTok is medically inaccurate. For the new study, researchers surveyed 843 adult English speakers. Through their research project, they explored how audiences are understanding and interacting with ADHD-focused content on the platform. Participants included those formally diagnosed with ADHD, self-diagnosed people, and people who do not have the condition. They were then charged with viewing the five worst and five best rated videos we had uncovered during our original investigation. This previous qualitative study counted the first 100 videos associated with the hashtag #ADHD, looking primarily at views.
To check how accurate their claims are, two clinical psychologists rated these videos. Incredibly, not a single one of the listed creators has a PhD credential. Only a tiny 1.6% have reached a Master’s level education. This oversight highlights the very dangers of using social media as a source for medical education.
Study Methodology and Findings
This comprehensive study aimed to understand ADHD-related content on TikTok. It looked at user experience from the lens of how users use this information and how they understand it. Psychologists then reviewed each of the claims in the videos to rate them for accuracy. In fact, they discovered that the majority of popular content contradicts medically verified guidance. This gap is due to the fact that 83.6% of content creators use their lived experience as their primary form of education. They value lived experience above technical experience.
This new study underscores the urgency of using trusted, formal information from intuitional sources. Federal organizations such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institute of Mental Health are integral in offering trustworthy resources. This suggestion seeks to protect social media users from potentially damaging, misleading information while directing them toward trusted, science-based information regarding ADHD.
Implications of Social Media Algorithms
These findings shed light on the ways social media algorithms constrain the content users keep seeing. All platforms, notably TikTok, develop algorithmic tools to curate the content users see. When you interact with certain types of content, you’re more likely to get similar videos served up regularly in your feed. This pattern has the potential to create an echo chamber effect, ultimately resulting in users being constantly exposed to this potentially misleading information.
Vasileia Karasavva, a commentator on the study, noted:
"While some of these product requests may be legitimate, I think it also raises some important questions about how ADHD has been commercialized online, on social media, and we also have to question if viewers are getting reliable and science-backed information, or [if] they are just being seen as potential customers, encouraged to buy things that might not actually help them."
Jess Rauchberg emphasized the complexity of self-diagnosis in the context of digital platforms:
"I think it [the study] shows that self-diagnosis is really, really complicated. It’s an important moment to think about media literacy. Media isn’t reality but can shape our understanding of what’s real. And so I think that’s an important thread in this panic about self-diagnosis and digital platforms that is often missing from the media hype around these conversations or debates."
The Role of Qualified Content Creators
The study also reiterates the importance of practitioners who possess professional credentials. They’re skilled practitioners in how to use social media platforms to their best advantage. Such individuals could provide valuable insights while respecting other people's lived experiences.
Rauchberg highlighted this potential role:
"Because I want to clarify that TikTok isn’t necessarily the problem; it’s how you’re using TikTok to create content that can tell people about diagnosis or these ideas. And what this study shows is that there’s a role that these practitioners can play in helping young people… understand what they can find and information that they can empower themselves with."
By encouraging partnership between trusted experts and popular social media personalities, reliable and beneficial information could be made more readily available.
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