ADHD & social media: community or confusion?

The paradoxes

A 2025 study found that 82.5% of sampled symptom-focused TikTok and Instagram posts were misleading, a higher rate than in previous studies of broader ADHD content.³

ADHD-related social media can foster support and shared connection, helping people to feel less alone.² When everyday or non-specific experiences are presented as uniquely ADHD, this can trivialise the condition and obscure other explanations.⁴ Online ADHD communities can support validation and self-recognition, including for marginalised people whose experiences have been overlooked. Some users reported that TikTok prompted them to seek a formal assessment after years of difficulty.⁵

In one experiment, ADHD misinformation increased intentions to seek both evidence-based and non-evidence-based treatments.⁶

How misinformation multiplies

Recommendation systems on social media can show us more content related to what we engage with, repeatedly exposing us to both helpful and misleading claims.⁷

Compounding this issue, judging credibility online is a widespread challenge, regardless of neurotype. Around two-thirds of US adult social-media users reported difficulty telling whether health information was true or false.⁸

References

The content-analysis studies examined selected samples of popular posts and used different coding criteria; their findings do not represent all ADHD-related social-media content.

1. Yeung A, Ng E, Abi-Jaoude E. “TikTok and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: A Cross-Sectional Study of Social Media Content Quality.” Canadian Journal of Psychiatry. 2022;67(12):899–906. doi:10.1177/07067437221082854. Neumann M, Rothenberg M, Mittmann G, Ramsauer J, Dorczok MC, Steiner-Hofbauer V. “Quirky, Relatable, Misleading: ADHD’s Viral Identity on TikTok.” Current Psychology. 2026;45:329. doi:10.1007/s12144-025-08675-1. Sieferle K, Guidi T, Dorr F, Bitzer EM. “Quality and Perception of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Content on TikTok: Cross-Sectional Study.” JMIR Infodemiology. 2025;5:e75973. doi:10.2196/75973. ↩ back to text
2. Isser M, Gazit T. “Scrolling for Support: Informational, Emotional, and Social Support in Adult ADHD Facebook Groups.” Frontiers in Psychiatry. 2026;16:1755437. doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1755437. Eagle T, Ringland KE. “‘You Can’t Possibly Have ADHD’: Exploring Validation and Tensions Around Diagnosis Within Unbounded ADHD Social Media Communities.” Proceedings of the 25th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility. 2023; article 29:1–17. doi:10.1145/3597638.3608400. ↩ back to text
3. Hulsizer B, Passaro F. “My Socials Told Me I Have ADHD: A Cross-Sectional Study of Information About ADHD Symptomatology on Social Media.” Journal of Social Media Research. 2025;2(3):211–225. doi:10.29329/jsomer.29. ↩ back to text
4. Sieferle et al. (2025), cited in full under note 1; Hulsizer and Passaro (2025), cited in full under note 3. ↩ back to text
5. Eagle and Ringland (2023), cited in full under note 2. ↩ back to text
6. Schiros A, Bowman N, Antshel KM. “Misinformation Mayhem: The Effects of TikTok Content on ADHD Knowledge, Stigma, and Treatment-Seeking Intentions.” European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. 2025;34:3521–3533. doi:10.1007/s00787-025-02769-8. ↩ back to text
7. Sieferle et al. (2025), cited in full under note 1. Office of the US Surgeon General. Confronting Health Misinformation: The US Surgeon General’s Advisory on Building a Healthy Information Environment. Washington, DC: US Department of Health and Human Services; 2021. hhs.gov. ↩ back to text
8. Gaysynsky A, Senft Everson N, Heley K, Chou WYS. “Perceptions of Health Misinformation on Social Media: Cross-Sectional Survey Study.” JMIR Infodemiology. 2024;4:e51127. doi:10.2196/51127. ↩ back to text