Teen Turns to Tik Tok to Solve Their Mental Health Problems.

ADHD, dyslexia, and autism. You might have at least heard of one of these things. Maybe you know someone who has one of these things or something similar.  Have you ever asked them if they got tested by a doctor? Chances are they may not, but instead  they may have gotten some of their ideas from  a TikTok video. 

ADHD, dyslexia, and autism all fall under the category of neurodivergent. This is when the brain functions differently than most people. These people might have a hard time learning things and may find it difficult to learn things that come easily to most people. Of course, there are symptoms, which is where TikTok comes in. People make TikToks telling people the symptoms and saying if you have even one of these, they have ADHD or dyslexia. 

While the symptoms are important, the symptoms are too broad and nonspecific. Teens end up thinking they have ADHD or dyslexia based solely on the symptoms and not on any research done by doctors. They might even tell their friends without the proper information. Instead people should use these videos to help spread awareness and encourage them to look on medical site and seek a doctor’s help for more accurate information on topics like these.

The reason teens might be doing this is because they feel different and want an explanation so they turn to TikTok where they find videos of people giving symptoms for something like dyslexia and they fit into that category so they find the “solution”. Unfortunately, teens are increasingly diagnosing themselves with conditions that don’t exist and it’s affecting their lives in negative ways, all because of the spread of misinformation of Tik Tok. 

If you do feel like you might have ADHD or something similar, go to a doctor to get a test so you can be one hundred percent sure. What do you think? What are some solutions that we could use to help solve this problem? Comment on some ideas! 

Sources:

ADHD on TikTok: Raising awareness or driving inaccurate self-diagnosis?

Teens are using social media to diagnose themselves with ADHD, autism, and more. Parents are alarmed

TEENS, SOCIAL MEDIA, AND THE TROUBLE WITH SELF-DIAGNOSIS

Teens Turn to TikTok in Search of a Mental Health Diagnosis