I like the fact they checked the reverse. Important part of any social experiment.
However, they did not mention any attempt to confirm the diagnosis of ADHD by administering medication. ADHD medication does not always work and many doctors believe that the cases of it not working indicate the patient did not in fact have ADHD, just some of the symptoms.
The symptoms of ADHD basically fall into two categories:
1) Stereotypical 'childish' behavior.
2) Poor social skills.
This is combined with the facts that about 20% of kids diagnosed with ADHD lose all symptoms after adulthood and only 15% retain all their symptoms.
Some people think the 20% that get cured never really had ADHD, they were misdiagnosed and just took a bit longer to mature. Others believe ADHD is a spectrum and most people have it in very slight degrees that can be 'cured'/overcome.
These facts along with the study seems to imply an explanation that social media may not 'hurt' the children and instead are more like filler. Too much filler activity delays maturation rather than causing ADHD.
I would love to see how the children that got symptoms of ADHD after engaging with social media reacted to the medications. In addition, I would like to know if the
'ADHD' symptoms that 'appeared' always existed and were just ignored until the child reached an age where those behaviors were less accepted.