When I realized I might have ADHD, I was almost 30 years old. I’d love to say that the self diagnosis helped me organize my life, but the truth is, it first sent me straight down the rabbit hole of ADHD social media.

Now after years, I am now mature enough to say, almost everyone has ADHD symptoms, but doesn’t mean everyone has ADHD. Todays life standards are feeding that, and we actually almost doesn’t have anything to do. You can only save yourself, but as a society we can’t fight back to those FAANG companies.

But ADHD and losing ability to focus on a topic is also advertised as a superpower! It was a disease, now it is not a bad thing anymore. It is actually cool to say I have ADHD, like I am doing right now :) Let’s read what I learned about it.

The Podcast That Connected the Dots

A few days ago, I listened to an episode from Climbing the Walls, a podcast from Understood.org, a nonprofit helping people with learning and thinking differences like ADHD and dyslexia. The host, Danielle Elliott, tells her own ADHD story while exploring how the public perception of ADHD changed, especially how it became a “superpower.”

She interviews Dr. Ned Hallowell, a psychiatrist who has spent over 40 years studying ADHD. He’s written 23 books, including the famous Driven to Distraction (1994), which sold over 2 million copies. As he says:

“The reason I write so many books isn’t ambition. If I don’t have a book going, I get depressed. Writing is one of the ways I manage my ADHD.

That’s why I am here trying to keep blogging regularly!

Rethinking the “Disorder”

Back in the 1980s, Hallowell realized something that the medical model missed. The DSM defined ADHD as a deficit, meaning a list of problems. But he saw the same traits differently:

“Distractibility becomes curiosity. Impulsivity becomes creativity. Hyperactivity becomes energy.”

He believed that the same brain chemistry that creates chaos can also fuel innovation, art, and discovery. His first book with Dr. John Ratey, Driven to Distraction, introduced this idea and it changed everything for millions of readers.

Not everyone agreed, though. Dr. Russell Barkley, a leading ADHD researcher, argued that calling ADHD a gift risks losing recognition of it as a disorder which could undermine access to support and treatment. That tension, between seeing ADHD as a gift vs. a disability, still shapes the conversation today.

Evolutionary Perspective

The podcast then dives into science. Some studies found that ADHD traits might have had evolutionary advantages. In hunter-gatherer societies, risk-takers were essential! Someone had to light the first fire, explore a new river, or taste a strange berry. Those who took risks often failed, but sometimes changed everything for the group.

In fact, a 2008 anthropology study in Kenya found that people with an ADHD-linked gene were healthier when living a nomadic lifestyle, but less healthy when living a settled one. The same brain that once helped explore new territory now struggles in an office cubicle.

Does it mean I am living in a wrong era of the history :(

Still, critics like Barkley warn that such theories risk romanticizing a real mental health challenge. And yet, as Hallowell says:

“It’s not a deficit disorder. I have an abundance of attention. The challenge is to control it.”

That line reframes ADHD perfectly. It is not as broken focus, but as unfiltered focus.

Diagnosed or Just Creative?

Today, ADHD is often described in ways that sound familiar to almost everyone: impulsive, curious, impatient, easily bored, highly intuitive, quick to forgive, quick to start, hard to finish. As Hallowell describes it:

“We tend to be dreamers, visionaries, entrepreneurs, people who think outside the box.”

Still not diagnosed, but all those adjectives really describe me :{

That’s where the boundary between ADHD and personality has blurred. Many creative people relate to those traits. The question is: where do we draw the line between being creative and having ADHD? And if everyone sees themselves in the description, do we risk overdiagnosis?

Some critics point out that pharmaceutical marketing once exaggerated ADHD symptoms to sell stimulants. Now, self-help books, coaches, and influencers may be doing something similar, stretching the definition in pursuit of inspiration, not medication.

Trait vs. Disorder

Hallowell makes a useful distinction between two types of ADHD:

1. ADHD as a disorder – serious, life-impacting, and linked to higher risks like addiction, financial trouble, or divorce.
2. ADHD as a trait – subclinical symptoms that can be managed and even become strengths when supported correctly.

He believes only 5–10% of people meet the clinical definition, but 30–40% share the traits. That’s a huge number, and it explains why so many people say, “I think I have a little ADHD.”

But what if more people are moving from the trait side of the spectrum to the disordered side? Hallowell calls today’s hyper-digital world “adiogenic”, a culture that creates ADHD-like symptoms in everyone. Too much screen time, too little real connection. Maybe we’re all becoming more distractible; not because of genetics, but because of our environment.

The Vermont Test (My Favorite Metaphor)

“Leave them on a farm in Vermont,” Hallowell says. “If they’re sitting on the porch reading a book, they never had true ADHD. But if they’ve turned the farm into an amusement park, then it’s real.”

That means I don’t have ADHD. I would always live in ideas world, not in real world.

It’s funny but profound. True ADHD doesn’t disappear when life slows down. It’s not just stress or overwork. It’s a wiring difference one that can cause chaos if unmanaged, or create brilliance if channeled.

I love that image, not just because it’s vivid, but because it’s hopeful. It says: your brain isn’t wrong; it just needs the right environment to thrive.

When ADHD Became a “Superpower”

The podcast points out how, by 2021, ADHD suddenly became cool. Celebrities like Paris Hilton, Simone Biles, Nicole Byer, and Greta Gerwig began talking about it openly. Paris Hilton even called it her “superpower,” quoting Hallowell in her memoir. Documentaries like The Disruptors pushed this idea further. And social media made it viral; sometimes with nuance, sometimes with misleading takes. (One study says 84% of ADHD content on TikTok is misleading.)

This cultural shift did something powerful: it made people feel seen. It also led to more women being diagnosed often for the first time in their 30s or 40s. But it also blurred the boundaries. As more people related to ADHD, medication shortages rose, and debates over overdiagnosis reignited.

My Takeaway

ADHD is a double-edged sword. It can wreck a life or build a masterpiece. As Hallowell says, there is no diagnosis that can “jack up your life more, or make it better.”

What about you? If I left you on a farm in Vermont, would you be reading a book, or building a rollercoaster?

Thank you for reading. I suggest you to listen that podcast If you read it so far!

Resource