> I wonder if we see a rise in ADHD in kids nowadays because it is an increasingly useful adaptation to our environment.
We like to think of focus and attention span as innate abilities encoded by our genes, but the truth is that genetics are only a part of the story. Focus and attention are learned skills that can be trained and developed over time.
Likewise, focus and attention can be diminished over time through constant cycles of rewarding ones' self with quick distractions. If instead of studying on a difficult topic, a person scrolls Twitter for an endless stream of quick context shifts and semi-rewarding posts, they're training their brain to associate Twitter with reward and studying with pain. It takes conscious effort to suppress the desire for short-term reward and focus on long-term reward that comes at a cost of additional up front work.
The rise in ADHD diagnoses is partially due to ever-expanding criteria for ADHD. Decades ago, ADHD diagnoses were mostly limited to severe cases that were refractory to therapy interventions. These days, drug companies push ADHD quizzes on the internet that make common everyday struggles feel like ADHD. Take a look at Takeda Pharmaceutical's Adult ADHD site: https://www.adhdadulthood.com/adhd-test With testimonials such as "I had to write everything down to maintain organization and memory" you'd think that non-ADHD people never had to write anything down to stay organized.
> I don't know, but "hyperfocus" on a hobby you love sounds exactly like what most people need nowadays to get off their phone and stop wasting their life staring on ads and ad-financed content.
The idea of "hyperfocus" is that the person loses focus on the wrong things. For example, if someone "hyperfocuses" on video games instead of doing their homework. It's a failure of time management and prioritization rather than a special ability to accomplish things.
The idea of hyperfocus as a symptom of ADHD is a new phenomenon, and it's more prominent in pop culture than actual ADHD research. Just look at the only 6 hits for hyperfocus AND adhd in pubmed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=%22hyperfocus%22+AND+%... 5 of the 6 papers are from the last 4 years and most aren't from top quality journals. Before that, hyperfocus was only listed as an adverse effect of taking too high of a dose of an ADHD medication.
> So a difficulty to concentrate on school stuff may actually be better than doing the homework.
It's a mistake to think that children's schoolwork is only about learning how to do fractions or write cursive or just the core material. The kids are learning how to learn, learning how to focus, learning how to manage their time, learning how to follow through on tasks, and many other very valuable learned skills in the process.
On HN we like to talk about the hypothetical genius child who would be studying engineering in their spare time if they didn't have to do a couple hours of homework at night, but in reality the vast majority of children are not worse off by doing schoolwork. It's training and learning how to function in the world. It's not perfect, but kids definitely do learn life skills from it.
> In short, ignoring what society considers normal and instead being super focused on your own things ... sounds more healthy to me than the average "normal" person.
The reality is that most people aren't forced to choose between being "normal" and being successful in their area of expertise. It has never been easier for someone to access information about their chosen topic online, but you only need to look at the traffic stats of major social media sites to see what people are actually choosing to do with their free time. It's also important to accept that good ideas don't always stand out on their own. Knowing how the world works and how to be "normal" is a critically important skill for working with others, getting your ideas out there, communicating, and so on.
Obviously I'd never discourage anyone from pursuing study in their chosen field, but in my experience the people who didn't grow up in environments with strong structure, frameworks, and feedback loops from their educators and parents is often ill-equipped to follow their academic desires when they arrive at college or the business world.
There are always exceptions, of course. However it's more common to hear kids complain that their early academic years were "not challenging enough" rather than too difficult, leaving them ill-prepared for reality when they finally encounter something challenging enough that they can't coast through it.