Adam Ruins Everything - Why the Internet is Good for Society

[Dr. Deeps]

[QUOTE=portalcrazy;51460184]but does hell come with heavy metal and shotguns like DOOM prophesied?[/QUOTE]

If it does, I'm in. As long as it isn't the Beavis and Butthead version...

[Mort Stroodle]

[QUOTE=Marbalo;51454773]There are still several downsides to having an endless stream of information and entertainment readily available to you at all times, disregarding these downsides is foolish and shortsighted.

We must retain some aspects of previous generations as we more forward and we mustn't brush all of social history aside in the name of some feel-good faux-intellectualism about how information and instant communications equals good, period.

Also ironically, with this vast and never-ending stream of information, we are actually getting less smart due to our brains becoming less accustomed to retain information and more so to merely replace it - which is also directly influencing the attention spans of children at young ages. ADHD cases in children have been steadily rising for decades now with a sharp increase right around the 00's, and while that may be in part due to broken mental health facilities, I am confident that the internet or more specifically, social media, is directly responsible for this increase.[/QUOTE]

We are going to need to see some sources that it's causing people to get "less smart". Even if people are being less inclined to retain information, that's not even necessarily a bad thing. If we're remembering less random crap that we could look up on our phones in a second that's not harming anyone's intelligence. Intelligence is a whole hell of a lot more than just information retention. You're "confident" that social media is causing ADHD to increase? Based on what? Your own intensive neurological research and consensus among experts? Rigorous experimental testing, peer review, and replicated results? Or could it be that you're taking a correlation and assuming that your unsupported speculation about its causation is correct because you're a cynical faux-intellectual that thinks your hunch is a reasonable substitute for actual neuroscience?

I don't deny the possibility that modern inventions could create psychological problems for humans, but you need a whole lot of experimental evidence to actually make a compelling argument for this kind of claim. The whole contrarian "people need to stop accepting things at face value! They're all wrong about x! trust me and accept my claim at face value because I'm contradicting people and that makes me a skeptic" thing you've got going just boils my blood every time I see somebody do it.

[Sgt. Napalm]

[QUOTE=Marbalo;51457189]Only have sources for the rise of ADHD diagnoses.

[url]https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/suffer-the-children/201304/whats-behind-the-53-percent-rise-in-adhd-diagnoses[/url]
[url]http://www.additudemag.com/adhdblogs/19/11079.html[/url]
[url]http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/adhd/data.html[/url]

Granted, as I've said a lot of these have nothing to do with ADHD becoming more prevalent but rather a case of wide misdiagnoses becoming more common. Still, I believe that while there are many cases of misdiagnosis there could still be a true rise in attention-deficient-related illnesses across the board hiding underneath that due to living in a ridiculously on-demand society. No study has been conducted thus far into the matter, so I'm just speculating logically that there could potentially be harmful "side effects" to daily and prolonged internet use.[/QUOTE]

I don't think this is a logical assumption to make. ADHD and ADHD diagnoses, or more pertinently, potential ADHD misdiagnoses, can be such a complex and multifaceted problem that I don't think saying "This must be because of the internet!" is a good explanation. That seems like a wild leap to me.

[paindoc]

[QUOTE=SGTNAPALM;51461713]I don't think this is a logical assumption to make. ADHD and ADHD diagnoses, or more pertinently, potential ADHD misdiagnoses, can be such a complex and multifaceted problem that I don't think saying "This must be because of the internet!" is a good explanation. That seems like a wild leap to me.[/QUOTE]

Not to mention that ADHD is also thoroughly [I]under[/I]-diagnosed and treated in adults.

[url]https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4195639/[/url]

[quote]Reports indicate that ADHD affects 2.5%–5% of adults in the general population, compared with 5%–7% of children. Interestingly, up to 40% of imprisoned men and 17%–22% of adults attending psychiatric outpatient clinics for conditions other than ADHD suffer from the disorder. [B]However, fewer than 20% of adults with ADHD are currently diagnosed and/or treated by psychiatrists.[/B] Some adults with ADHD will have received a diagnosis in childhood, although some will no longer be in contact with psychiatric services and will not have access to treatment (eg, during transition from child to adult health care practitioners). Conversely, other adults will present with ADHD that was not diagnosed in childhood.[/quote]

ADHD is a highly inheritable disease, and has clear physiological causes. These issues with the dopamine system and the frontal lobe CAN be spotted in an MRI. Amphetamines work a lot like Insulin for diabetics, and actually return these regions to full functioning (mostly) for the period of their effects. Once they wear off though, things usually go back to normal. The hype around it being overdiagnosed is due to the company mostly responsible for adderall pulling some really shitty marketing practices and just about as sketchy as a pharmacetutical company can be. The good news is that Adderall has no real long-term adverse affects, and that in the children who did have ADHD it can actually sometimes result in their brains permanently improving its function (and decreasing their ADHD symptoms).

Its not something you just get because you enjoy too much internet and are too distracted. That's just society currently constantly reinforcing and rewarding shortened attention spans: and there is nothing inherently wrong with this. Everyone likes things that are easier to digest now, and I bet there are probably some interesting psycholigical studies on this. But that's me speculating, and personal anecdotes and musings [I]do not[/I] a coherent argument make.

Ever heard someone say "omg I'm so OCD I like my room to be neat and my things stacked just [I]so[/I]"?. You are doing that, but comparing ADHD and the internet. Its a silly, shallow, broken comparison and it doesn't really achieve anything except delegitimizing the actual disorder. Cut that shit out.

[LoneWolf_Recon]

[QUOTE=paindoc;51462709]Not to mention that ADHD is also thoroughly [I]under[/I]-diagnosed and treated in adults.

[url]https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4195639/[/url]

ADHD is a highly inheritable disease, and has clear physiological causes. These issues with the dopamine system and the frontal lobe CAN be spotted in an MRI. Amphetamines work a lot like Insulin for diabetics, and actually return these regions to full functioning (mostly) for the period of their effects. Once they wear off though, things usually go back to normal. The hype around it being overdiagnosed is due to the company mostly responsible for adderall pulling some really shitty marketing practices and just about as sketchy as a pharmacetutical company can be. The good news is that Adderall has no real long-term adverse affects, and that in the children who did have ADHD it can actually sometimes result in their brains permanently improving its function (and decreasing their ADHD symptoms).

Its not something you just get because you enjoy too much internet and are too distracted. That's just society currently constantly reinforcing and rewarding shortened attention spans: and there is nothing inherently wrong with this. Everyone likes things that are easier to digest now, and I bet there are probably some interesting psycholigical studies on this. But that's me speculating, and personal anecdotes and musings [I]do not[/I] a coherent argument make.

Ever heard someone say "omg I'm so OCD I like my room to be neat and my things stacked just [I]so[/I]"?. You are doing that, but comparing ADHD and the internet. Its a silly, shallow, broken comparison and it doesn't really achieve anything except delegitimizing the actual disorder. Cut that shit out.[/QUOTE]

I can't speak about ADHD, but there is a definite trend in modern society that is directly influenced by the internet. In a time where information overload is the norm, we all want the cliffnotes or a single line summary of any news story or topic.

A good example, for instance, are some of the outlets that are highly active on facebook (i.e. NowThis, IFLS and The DoDo) and BuzzFeed as well. That yellow, impact font used to give a summary of a story reinforces short attention span attitudes and less on critical thinking or more engaged reading.