Tell Me You Have ADHD Without Telling Me You Have ADHD
Neurodivergent Identity Performance on TikTok
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2414789 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Abigail D Leveille (0009-0009-5893-8222, University of Illinois Chicago, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 10 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Publication date | 2024-07-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Social Media + Society (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2056-3051 • E-ISSN: 2056-3051 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/20563051241269260 |
| OpenAlex | W4401520061 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 9 |
| References cited | 32 |
User-generated content about attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most popular health topics on TikTok. Because most creators are lay people, yet they attract a wide audience, concerns have been raised about the accuracy of the information shared. Through critical discourse analysis of #actuallyADHD and #ADHDprobs videos, this study examines the content of these videos as they relate to creators' ADHD self-disclosure. Analysis showed that platform affordances and performance practices of videos focused on humor and personal experiences rather than educational medical content. I argue that in user-generated ADHD TikTok videos the performance strategies of creators and platform affordances of TikTok indicate these videos function as identity work rather than health information
Aesthetics · Art · Developmental psychology · Child Development and Digital Technology · Clinical Psychology · Impact of Technology on Adolescents · Mind wandering and attention · Psychology
“Dr. TikTok”
Privatizing and prescribing identity
Quirky, relatable, misleading
Digitally Constructing Marginalized Neurodivergence
Why is everyone self-diagnosing with ADHD nowadays?’
TikTok as an academic tool
Self-diagnosis in the age of social media
Mapping the social studies of ADHD
Wait, am I #neurodivergent?' Exploring TikTok's influence on neurodivergent self-understanding
How Artifacts Afford
Algorithmic Folk Theories and Identity
More than Just a Laughing Matter
My life is a mess
The Materiality of Technology
Mapping Internet Celebrity on TikTok
The Sage Handbook of Grounded Theory
The Oxford Handbook of Qualitative Research
Diagnostic advertisements
ActuallyAutistic
The Rhetorical Construction of the AD/HD Subject
Economies of Difference and Identity-based Content on a Digital Platform
Extending the Internet meme
Keeping it raw on the ‘gram
Naming ourselves, becoming neurodivergent scholars
Neurodiversity studies
Principles of Critical Discourse Analysis
Individual differences in uses of humor and their relation to psychological well-being
TikTok as algorithmically mediated biographical illumination
The Presentation of Self in the Age of Social Media
I tweet honestly, I tweet passionately
Qualitative Content Analysis
Why's Everyone on TikTok Now? The Algorithmized Self and the Future of Self-Making on Social Media
Digitally Mediated Protest
A New Algorithmic Identity
| Citations per year | 9 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2025 - 2026 (2) |
| Highly cited | No |