Bad at football? ✓
Doodling at school? ✓
Taking things apart with no idea of how to put them back together? ✓
Developing a love for video games? ✓
That comic looks to me like the experiences of a neurodivergent child in the 80s/90s.
Mind you, what’s shown isn’t all there is to it. While I never got into sports (especially team sports), I did have friends, I did do well at school, and I very rarely got into trouble with my excellent parents. But I can still relate to the first three panels very well and to the last three kinda. And yes, I got diagnosed with ADHD… at age 40.
What you call “acting up” is in most part just the kid dealing with their surroundings vis à vis their neurochemistry. Team sports can be a bad match for a kid with inattentive-type ADHD; if they lose focus they might cost their team the game and everyone gets angry as if this wasn’t a damn leisure activity. Doodling at school actually helps ADHDers focus because it provides dopamine that otherwise comes from daydreaming or staring out the window. Taking things apart is a result of intense curiosity, which appears to be a common trait in ADHDers; this desire to learn can be channeled into productive directions but if unguided can also lead to “I wonder how this device looks on the inside”. (And in the 80s and 90s nobody knew how to handle ADHD.)
Video games are great for ADHDers. They generate a constant stream of interesting decisions (thus providing the dopamine levels neurotypical people get for free), allow you to approach problems your own way at your own pace, and provide a clear set of goals that don’t randomly change. And when you do succeed, you get the satisfaction of actually having finished something. Plus validation; video games tell you you did a good job and don’t complain about how messy your approach was or that you could’ve been faster if only you applied yourself.
Meanwhile, advice like “follow the rules and pay attention in class” basically amounts to “change your neurochemistry by sheer force of will”. It’s not going to work any more than telling a paraplegic to just use their legs. The closest thing people can do without prescription medication is massive caffeine abuse; stimulants raise dopamine levels a bit. Of course becoming a coffee achiever generally isn’t recommended at the age shown in the comic.
video games tell you you did a good job and don’t complain about how messy your approach was or that you could’ve been faster if only you applied yourself
Not to detract from your otherwise good points but video games very much tell you to get better, that’s like the whole concept of a high score!
Tone matters, though. There’s a big difference between “good job! Here’s how other people did. Can you beat them?” and “I refuse to acknowledge that you did something good because you’re too lazy to make it to the top”.
ADHDers get a lot of the latter, often accompanied by some variant of “I know you can do better; you’re so smart/talented”. In my case it was pretty dilute because my parents were master-level chill but they still didn’t know shit about ADHD when they raised me.
I can relate to it.
Bad at football? ✓
Doodling at school? ✓
Taking things apart with no idea of how to put them back together? ✓
Developing a love for video games? ✓
That comic looks to me like the experiences of a neurodivergent child in the 80s/90s.
Mind you, what’s shown isn’t all there is to it. While I never got into sports (especially team sports), I did have friends, I did do well at school, and I very rarely got into trouble with my excellent parents. But I can still relate to the first three panels very well and to the last three kinda. And yes, I got diagnosed with ADHD… at age 40.
What you call “acting up” is in most part just the kid dealing with their surroundings vis à vis their neurochemistry. Team sports can be a bad match for a kid with inattentive-type ADHD; if they lose focus they might cost their team the game and everyone gets angry as if this wasn’t a damn leisure activity. Doodling at school actually helps ADHDers focus because it provides dopamine that otherwise comes from daydreaming or staring out the window. Taking things apart is a result of intense curiosity, which appears to be a common trait in ADHDers; this desire to learn can be channeled into productive directions but if unguided can also lead to “I wonder how this device looks on the inside”. (And in the 80s and 90s nobody knew how to handle ADHD.)
Video games are great for ADHDers. They generate a constant stream of interesting decisions (thus providing the dopamine levels neurotypical people get for free), allow you to approach problems your own way at your own pace, and provide a clear set of goals that don’t randomly change. And when you do succeed, you get the satisfaction of actually having finished something. Plus validation; video games tell you you did a good job and don’t complain about how messy your approach was or that you could’ve been faster if only you applied yourself.
Meanwhile, advice like “follow the rules and pay attention in class” basically amounts to “change your neurochemistry by sheer force of will”. It’s not going to work any more than telling a paraplegic to just use their legs. The closest thing people can do without prescription medication is massive caffeine abuse; stimulants raise dopamine levels a bit. Of course becoming a coffee achiever generally isn’t recommended at the age shown in the comic.
Not to detract from your otherwise good points but video games very much tell you to get better, that’s like the whole concept of a high score!
Tone matters, though. There’s a big difference between “good job! Here’s how other people did. Can you beat them?” and “I refuse to acknowledge that you did something good because you’re too lazy to make it to the top”.
ADHDers get a lot of the latter, often accompanied by some variant of “I know you can do better; you’re so smart/talented”. In my case it was pretty dilute because my parents were master-level chill but they still didn’t know shit about ADHD when they raised me.