Is the Internet giving us all ADHD?

It’s no secret that the Internet presents a bevy of distractions. Many of us have grudgingly accepted perpetual scatterbrain as a hallmark of modern life, as unavoidable as Facebook and the Kardashians. But in a lecture at SXSW 2015, University of Chicago psychologist Michael Pietrus floated a provocative hypothesis: Maybe these aren’t just Internet-age annoyances but something approaching an actual pathology. Maybe the Internet is giving us all the symptoms of ADHD.

“We are not saying that Internet technologies and social media are directly causing ADHD,” Pietrus cautions. But the Internet, he says, “can impair functioning in a variety of ways … that can mimic and in some cases exacerbate underlying attention problems.” Whatever the exact relationship between the Internet and ADHD, Pietrus says it is important to realize that pushing back against these symptoms requires a careful, intentional strategy. There’s a lot of research that suggests mindfulness and meditation could help people sustain their attention, even online; Pietrus also suggests techniques like expressive writing or “chunking,” which helps short-term information stick in your mind. “The biggest thing is to increase awareness and understanding of what social media and technology are doing to us,” he said. “Once we acknowledge the potential effects on our brains, we can make better-informed choices about our actions and behavioral patterns.”