Why do so many boys (G&WS posters too) have the attention span of a fruitfly?

Question

Seriously, so many boys are diagnosed with ADD and ADHD...and only few girls. Why?

"they do not have to face these challenges when they're young"...By 'challenges' do you mean sitting still and paying attention?

Uhhh...Grouch - boys didn't 'get' ADD/ADHD in the old days. They had no choice but to shut up, sit down and pay attention to the teacher. If they failed to do that, they were strapped. They actually managed to read books - entire books - this way.

Vah - you are blathering on about blocking? I will block you as of now, you nutter. You have done nothing to answer the question; all you have done is post one fallacious argument after the other. It's just an excuse for you to rant and rave.

The VERY same applies to StevieSid. Ad hominem attacks, makes NO effort to answer the question. A bag of hot air- no substance whatsoever. And LIES; 'attention span' suddenly beomes 'intellect'. If I had meant intellect, I would have used the word, ok? Cass has his own mental problems that don't require addressing here.

As far as ADHD is concerned, there is some evidence that 'gene mutations' are involved - but of course the crazies don't care about ADD/ADHD in the first case - they're only here to CRANK and insult. If they cared about the subject at all, they would have bothered to educate themselves about it.

Now we have yet another crank who is insulting and arguing about 'the movies' - talk about not answering the question. But then...people who really do have the attention span of a fruitfly can't keep it in mind long enough to formulate an answer...is that it?

Just Another M: the topic is the frequent diagnosing in boys of ADD/ADHD. OCD has nothing whatsover to do with the topic. If you don't wish to answer the question then don't - but this isn't the place to drop a red herring in the form of another completely unrelated illness.

Shingo, you too. The issue is NOT "feminization" of anything. Yet another red herring. Try to stay on topic. ADD/ADHD: "why so commonly diagnosed in boys, not girls". If you wish to suggest that something somehow somewhere has been 'feminised' and this has something to do with the actual topic then please provide documented evidence that this mysterious phenomena exists. It remains in the clouds with the flying saucers due to lack of evidence substanciating its very existence.

Vah, nothing better to do then attack posters while not even attempting to address the question? Too narcissistic to stay away? Evidently so.

Vah, I block you because you are a fruitcake as evidenced by the fact that you refuse to address the question and do nothing but spew poison. Then, you try to disown your own bad behavior by projecting onto ME. Sorry, but YOU own the bad behavior.

Answer 1

Object of it's Ire...your blunt, to-the-point, analytical appraisal of such "goings-on" never ceases to amaze me...and it totally cracks me up....lol!

I think what is going on here is simple: you're very intelligent, very outspoken, and a lot of guys (and gals!) just can't keep up. We can't really fault them too much for not having more brain cells than the good lord gave them.

Try not to be so hard on the lesser "mentally-endowed"...lol!

Answer 2

Actually I have the attention span of a fruitfly at times as well. I went to a parochial school first and second grade, and when I went to public school, my teacher talked to my parents and told them I probably wouldn't make it through grade school and would end up a truant. I hated sitting still and was use to running around playing outdoors. I also get bored very easily, and like to do things not just read about them. If I had gone to school now, I would be considered ADD and ADHD.

Whenever I go to a training event, I don't pay attention to practically anything the instructor says, I skim the material and play with the software on my own. I learn by doing.

The educational and training systems in the US are not set up for females, it's set up for robots. Practically no one can learn well in a lecture environment. I teach and rarely lecture-I have everyone doing a project with me online and have them do something similar themselves afterwards in teams or own their own. I write some things down for visual learners, repeat what I'm doing for audio learners, have people repeat things I say for verbal learners, etc.

I find the US educational system boring and barely useful for any child or adult. I'm taking my masters almost all online since I find the lecture environment absolutely stifling. I can skip what I think is boring and just focus on what I think it important. It's still based on reading and writing though. Thank goodness we also have to work in groups and create presentations and present projects, otherwise I'd go nuts.

Answer 3

these disorders are not a laughing mater. my son when he was younger had compulsive obsessive disorder. let me tell you he would flip out into a fit over just putting on clothing because it would not do what he wanted it to. he would flip out if things did not look or stay the way he put them in his room etc etc etc. there are parents out there who find them selves trying so hard to guide there children who have these troubles. you should thank a bit more before you go speaking out about some thing you obviously have no idea about. or perhaps you should reword it because it sure sounds like a rant of insults designed to point at male children, and i get that from the way you said it. don't attack the children just because you want to try and degrade males.

ka1227 the questions header is, Why do so many boy's ( G&WS posters too) have the attention span of a fruitfly?
if you can not see the intent in this then perhaps you should start giving the rep of the asker more condideration.

ka1227 , that was a very awesome reply i can see the point you make a bit better now. good point.in any event your answer on the subject of ADD and ADHD is a good one i have to say.

Answer 4

The issue of feminization is an interesting one. Being a genius who grew up at a time when my race wasn't even considered to be capable of intelligence, my early completion of classwork, and my subsequent boredom was seen as needing to be treated with medication. There was nothing defective about my intelligence or my attentiveness. The problem was what was (or not) expected of me. When I was in the fifth grade, I could easily read and comprehend books and topics far beyond my level.

So Grouch may not be that far off in his statement. Boys are not girls. And any attempt to treat all children the same is bound to fail. Does that mean we have an education system that expects boys to be girls? I don't know. There could be a physiological component to this. The whole issue of inactivity in classrooms nowadays is well documented. You merely need to look at the obesity rates among all children to see that. Left to their own devices (unsupervised), are girls as equally dispositioned as boys to be as physically active as boys tend to be?

Dismissing Grouch's answer simply because you think it might be sexist, is sexist, if you can't offer any evidence that his assessment is incorrect. The question is whether or not ADD/ADHD is a true medical condition, or simply a way to sedate children that perform outside the normalized parameters established in our education systems. Have these "boys" been substantially evaluated to prove the existence of a medical disorder which requires medical treatment? I certainly had no medical disorder. I was simply subjected to a curriculum which was completely inadequate for the level of my intelligence. Enforced in fact by the systemic racism which refused to acknowledge that I existed, much less have special needs to be addressed with coursework appropriate to my level of competency. Are boys given physical exercise appropriate to their physical requirements? NO! That has just recently been addressed (Just in the news by the way) that the current demise of physical education is killing our children. So now there is in fact a movement to revive physical activity for all children. But given the nature of boys, it has likely been more detrimental to them.

Now go ahead and try and call my answer simplistic!

Shingoshi Dao

Answer 5

First , I want to correct you, Steve_sider98…the question compares boys’ ATTENTION SPAN, not their intellect, to a fruit fly. Not the same thing. Yes, this poster has degraded a number of males in this forum, but the question itself – if you had no history with the person posting it – is benign.

I see so many swords drawn simply because of who asked the question. Simmer down, fellas, and maybe we can actually focus on the subject, rather than the collective underlying animosity.

I agree that ADD and ADHD are over diagnosed these days, due in part to the enthusiasm of the pharmaceutical industry to make a buck. I also agree that inactivity contributes to the problem, and I would like to add to the mix video games and television programming. Since most kids spend a few hours a day watching TV, they have become accustomed being interrupted every few minutes and see this frequent shift of focus as “normal.” I would further submit that they are conditioned to not pay attention to the commercial breaks, and therefore are in the habit of paying attention for about 6-12 minutes at a stretch, only to purposely distract themselves for a 2-3 minute interval before settling down to focus on the program for another 10 minutes or so.

This attention span problem crosses gender lines, but the way it manifests in girls is different than in boys, and the male behavior is judged as undesirable in a school setting.
“The system” seeks a band-aid solution – medication. I see it as a bad idea because it is not very effective (in a global sense), and the young minds using it are subject to unknown and potentially undesirable long-term effects.

Improvement would be seen, I think, by bringing physical education back to 30 minutes each day, and if parents would either get rid of their TVs or enforce strict time limits.
I'm not a teacher, but as a parent of a spirited child, I think that teachers need to have "time fillers" prepared for the students who compete their work quickly... could be a fun word puzzle, string games or some other quiet, independent activity.

Edit: Just another man - I can SEE the bait without TAKING the bait. It's much more productive to focus on the topic itself rather than the person posting it. It's challenging to resist the urge to get sucked into the war on feminism, but resist I will!

EDIT2: Thank you, Just another man.

Edit@Steve: I tried. I tried to focus on the topic of the question rather than the person who posted it. I refuse to be sucked in to _your_ conflict(s) with other users here. I am a separate person with my own thoughts and feelings. If _you_ want to paint with a wide brush, you may, but I will step outside of your canvas, thank you.

Answer 6

Honestly don't know why so many boys are diagnosed with add/adhd nowadays, there is something seriously going wrong in society though when so many parents are willing to have their sons medicated with drugs that no one knows the long term effects of.
There are genuine cases of add/adhd but the number of boys diagnosed and being drugged is way too high.
My second son is very much a handful at times and used to have tantrums that would last for 6 hours straight, but I refuse to have him drugged to make him behave. I've put all of my effort into helping him and trying to understand him, so he can be helped with his hyperactivity and extreme(at times) misbehaviour. He is also now actively involved in sport and encouraged to spend alot of time outdoors playing so he can burn off some energy.
Have seen first hand a boy aged 7 who was so depressed by adhd medication that he was constantly crying and depressed.
Young boys in society need help, not drugs. Boys need the same consideration as girls, they need love, understanding and steady, firm parents.

Poster above. How is what I've said misandrist in any way? Please enlighten me on what I have done wrong, because I honestly don't understand why you've taken offence because of my answer. Would you rather I just said something nasty about boys instead(which I won't do. And I'm sure that if you saw a mother giving her son a cuddle, you'd be so blind to reality and your own narrow-minded thinking that you'd consider her a misandrist too)? Or is it better for a mother of 3 sons to try and understand and help raise her children with kindness, understanding and compassion?
I do not see males as the weaker sex, only that they've been discriminated against in society.
How is that being misandrist?
Either you want women to understand and treat males with respect and help teach them in a mature manner, or you don't. My feeling is that you don't and just want to whinge & whine about everything, stop playing the victim. Btw, I am no angel and damn well know it and most other gals aren't either.
Well, I am waiting......

Answer 7

Oscar the Grouch has hit the nail on the head accurately. Boys NEED to expend their energy in positive ways, and because the schools have become so anti-male, recess has been stolen and title ix has damaged boys sports immensely... In short, by drugging boys - the elite are trying to remove natural functional urges.

Answer 8

Boys are naturally active and curious about the world around them. The current educational system is feminized, so the boys are labeled ADHD when in fact, they are just like nature created them to be. They were created to go out and DO things, not sit around and talk. Stop medicating the nation's boys and trying to make them girls!

Answer 9

Did any of you feminists notice that this questioner refers to boys as having the intellect of fruit flies?

Does that not bother you?

Why is that feminists wonder where they get their reputation for hating men and boys when there are "feminists" who take every opportunity to denigrate men and boys with very obviously no intention of being helpful?

. . . .With the sole purpose of casting any possible negative light on boys to highlight their theory that males are naturally inferior and damaged.

We adult males can handle unrelenting psychotic hate. But, why continually attack little boys, referring to them as having the intellect of fruit flies.

EDIT: KA1227 -

How would you like someone to compare one of your children, in a negative context, to a fruit fly?

Every question this person asks compares boys negatively to girls. She hates males and you know it.

Why are feminists surprised by having a man-hating reputation when they tolerate and even support some of their number who repeatedly express their hatred of men and boys?

This person's questions and the responses by self-described feminists are a perfect example as to how feminists have earned their reputation.


EDIT: KA1227 - I feel that some things are categorically wrong to ignore, like hatred of other humans because of their race, sex, or nationality, etc. I suppose we will have to agree to disagree - which I believe we can do respectfully.

Answer 10

Object of Its Ire: That translate to you having no refutation for my answer. You only block people that don't agree with you.

You are a cowardice misandrist.

Answer 11

I have a theory on that. I worked with a lot of kids with ADHD, all of them male. In my view, one of the reasons these kids are so "hyper" and unable to focus is that they do not have to face these challenges when they're young. Secondly, they are not outside playing independently or with other kids as much as boys used to because of parental paranoia (justified or not). They have a lot of pent up energy and are just dying to run around or let that energy out. Some of them are also over-scheduled with various things, and cannot, therefore, focus on anything in particular. I also believe that the food they're eating is creating problems mentally and physically. So, how is this different from girls? I believe that girls are encouraged to focus on things--colouring books, books in general--things that are more individual in nature. I never once saw a hyperactive girl, but there were so many boys, and these were the commonalities I saw. Overprotection, poor nutrition, lack of daily physical activity, lack of autonomy. I also think that boys tend to play more violent video games, and spend extended amounts of time in such activities. I don't know if there's a biochemical difference between boys and girls re. ADD, but this has been my experience in working with them.

EDIT: Actually, given the answer of one poster citing me specifically, I really have to wonder about reading comprehension issues. You have two men say that boys aren't allowed to be physically active enough--you get Yea! Right on men!--I said that exact same thing, and there's something wrong with my answer. I'm somehow misandrist. What is wrong with you? If you really could read and understand, you would know that I AM blaming the educational system and parents who are not allowing boys to play enough. Why I'm dignifying this with an edit is beyond me. And I'm a teacher, not a counsellor. You wonder why you get blocked? It's likely because you read what you want to read. Have fun with that.