Title : Improving social interactions and skills with environmental modifications in the modern society: Understanding ADHD, social media, and electronic devices usage: A literature
Abstract:
Children and young people in the 21st century are digital natives whose communication and social dynamics are heavily driven by social media and mobile devices. Attentiondeficit/ hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) manifests into significant deficits in social interactions and relationships, which persist into prolonged and costly social impairments in different social settings. Studies have shown evidence of extensive lack of interpersonal finesse and presence of oppositional behaviors that result in people with ADHD being isolated from their peers or being
unable to maintain meaningful social participations. With the increasing reliance on smartphones and computers to work and communicate, children and young people with ADHD can be less interested in real-world social activities, which further exacerbates ADHD symptoms of social functioning deficits. Methodologically, medical, behavioral, and psychological studies and metaanalyses are synthesized to examine specific social challenges ADHD-diagnosed individuals face in understanding social cues and maintaining interpersonal relationships and social interactions along with applied interventions and therapeutical approaches to provide social skills training and
attenuate social-emotional learning among children and young people with ADHD. Secondly, studies are collected and analyzed to explore tailored interventions and recommendations to help with alleviating over-reliance on mobile devices in shaping social engagements among children and young people with ADHD. Specific studies that delve strongly into the role of mobile devices on influencing ADHD-diagnosed children’s and young’s people social functioning - along with recommendations of interventions - are limited; hence, through synthesizing different evidence and theoretical frameworks of ADHD-related social functioning deficits, influences on social dynamics by excessive screen time, and applied interventions for ADHD-related social interactions issues and excessive screen time usage respectively, this literature seeks to contribute insights to the relationship between ADHD, mobile devices, and social functioning deficits along with informing applied real-life interventions that could better enhance the target populations’ social well-being.
