Last week, I logged into Facebook to find old photos with a friend. Despite staying away from social media for years, I haven’t changed much. Instead of logging out after I found the photos, I doom scrolled. In ten minutes, I saw more ADHD ads than posts from people I actually know.
I was struck by the number of ADHD ads I was served in a short period. It’s entirely possible I saw more ads because I watched the first one fully. The ads all started with the familiar premise of not reaching one's potential, but the problem it had identified was startling. It wasn’t the lack of time management, or the absence of productivity systems, or plain old procrastination, but rather the suggestion that the viewer is suffering from ADHD. The problem was framed as a diagnosable condition keeping the viewer stuck. Of course, the rest of the ad tried to sell some proprietary product, but I was most intrigued by the reframing.
It took me a while to put my finger on it. Then it hit me – ADHD reframes the struggle of not reaching one's potential as identity and not failure. As a hook, “your brain works differently” lands very differently from “you lack discipline.” Until recently, not achieving one’s potential was often reduced to a personal failing. The solution was discipline: put in the work, build grit, and try harder. With ADHD, the problem is now positioned as neurological, and the solution was to own the identity, inviting compassion while seeking treatment.
ADHD is real, but in this case, I do believe that growing awareness of the term is being weaponized to sell more. Advertising has discovered that diagnostic language sells better than messaging built around laziness or procrastination.
We saw a version of this shift earlier with mental health and depression, both grave and real conditions. Suddenly, self-diagnosis based on informal online quizzes or pop-psych checklists became common. Few were clinically diagnosed, and fewer were seeking treatment from qualified professionals.
Greater awareness is indeed a gift, and I am only glad that many more are talking about mental health and ADHD. But when awareness becomes a sales funnel, we should pause. Not to deny suffering — but to ask who benefits from how suffering is framed.
Perhaps we need both compassion and discipline — and the wisdom to know when each is appropriate.