Consequently,
Adhd tiktok: serial disinformation:
On Tiktok. Nevertheless, the exposure to disinformation on ADHD does not only have the consequence of informing young adults who are confronted there. Therefore, It has the consequence that they do not understand ADHD-and that they are more likely to be convinced of. For example, being right.
This is what emerges from a study by researchers in psychology from the University of Syracuse, in New York State. Moreover, The surprise behind this study is not to have discovered that there is health disinformation on Tiktok. However, that this disinformation finds an attentive audience: there are indeed years that we know that this platform, one of the most popular in the world, is used as a source of information by its hundreds of millions of users. Last March, a Canadian study even concluded that “most” popular videos on Tiktok speaking of ADHD contain disinformation.
The adhd tiktok: serial disinformation surprise this time is rather that we have been able to measure that exposure to disinformation on deficit. attention disorder (ADHD) “significantly reduces the understanding that students” of this problem.
Develop “incorrect understanding” – Adhd tiktok: serial disinformation
The danger sums up the student in the doctorate Ashley Schiros in the press release of her university. it is that “individuals can develop an incorrect understanding of signs, symptoms and treatments for ADHD”. The belief in unfounded treatments “can lead to self-diagnostic” or help seeking treatments based on solid evidence.
This is all the more disturbing for the medical community that we also know that in addition to using Tiktok as a source of information. a significant number of adolescents and young adults use it as a search engine: up to 40% of the platform users in the United States, according to estimates dating back to 2022.
The study of the University of Syracuse. which appeared adhd tiktok: serial disinformation in June in the journal European Child & Adolescent Psychiatrywas carried out with 500 American students of college level. She consisted of showing them tiktok videos containing info sometimes correct. sometimes incorrect, on ADHD, and in making them fill up questionnaires measuring their level of knowledge.
Those who had been exposed to false information did not only have “significantly” less good results. they showed, in addition, “greater confidence” in their incorrect responses. And suddenly. they had a greater temptation to follow the treatment recommended by the Tiktokeur, whether it was reliable or not.
Beyond ADHD. note the researchers, these same observations are likely to apply to all kinds of mental illnesses or behavioral problems: for a very large number of people, it is not the reliability of the source that matters, but if it seems convincing.
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adhd tiktok: serial disinformation
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