*quality

Boosting this quality contribution up in the Hot Listing - declared quality by rottenseed.

Very interesting, but the ending seemed exceptionally abrupt. I wanted to hear another 10 minutes.

This is brilliant. I'd like to point out that the vast majority of employers treat adults in the same assembly line fashion.

I've been thinking about these concepts since middle school..

Basically the entire reason I study sociology.

Very inspiring stuff. =]

All of the smartest people I know don't have college degrees (or have jobs that don't directly utilize the degree they have)...and they think they're stupid because they were bad at tests in school and have poor writing/grammar skills.

I fucking love these RSA animation things.

This is awesome.

Anyone find it interesting that the prevalence of ADHD correlates with population density? (and yes the map showed per capita values.. I looked it up)
It's like if you live with too many people around you and not enough free space, you find it hard to focus.

Amphetamines != anesthetics.

Kids may be over-medicated, but they aren't being anesthetized by stimulants.

I think you're drawing conclusions with too little evidence. Cases of ADHD would also increase with density because there are simply more people. You would need to compare percentages by normalizing cases to the population before you could make any real conclusions. (But I agree with your conclusion in that it makes sense)

>> ^grinter:

Anyone find it interesting that the prevalence of ADHD correlates with population density? (and yes the map showed per capita values.. I looked it up)
It's like if you live with too many people around you and not enough free space, you find it hard to focus.

>> ^residue:

I think you're drawing conclusions with too little evidence. Cases of ADHD would also increase with density because there are simply more people. You would need to compare percentages by normalizing cases to the population before you could make any real conclusions. (But I agree with your conclusion in that it makes sense)
>> ^grinter:
Anyone find it interesting that the prevalence of ADHD correlates with population density? (and yes the map showed per capita values.. I looked it up)
It's like if you live with too many people around you and not enough free space, you find it hard to focus.


No conclusion, just speculation.
But, my defensive side needs to point out that:
1) the correlation is valid, regardless of what is driving it.
2) as I pointed out, the ADHD prevalence figure he showed already controls for population size.

I've always thought that the drugs we use to treat ADD and ADHD are some of the main factors in the increasing number of ADD and ADHD patients. As it turns out the parents of these children really don't want anything other than their children, who are simply acting like children, to calm down. Those parents think that ADD/ADHD medicat...ions do that, so they demand those medications from their physicians.

The problem is, as most of the comments so far seem to understand, that ADD/ADHD medications are stimulants. Children who actually have sensation receptor problems seem hyperactive because they must speak loudly, and slap things instead of touching them, just to receive the same sensation that a child without ADD/ADHD does. Stimulate the child that actually has ADD/ADHD and the treatment is successful in a high percentage of cases, but stimulate the child who actually does not have ADD/ADHD then you have only increased the supposed hyperactivity of that child.

@grinter oh, yea you did, not sure how I missed that... my bad

2 more comments have been lost in the ether at this killed duplicate.

*promote

Promoting this video back to the front page; last published Thursday, October 14th, 2010 9:23pm PDT - promote requested by marinara.

That a correlation is valid does not make it interesting.

I'm also a bit confused by your claim. Places with extremely high density, e.g. NY, CA, and MA, have lower ADHD figures than places like AK.

>> ^grinter:

>> ^residue:
I think you're drawing conclusions with too little evidence. Cases of ADHD would also increase with density because there are simply more people. You would need to compare percentages by normalizing cases to the population before you could make any real conclusions. (But I agree with your conclusion in that it makes sense)
>> ^grinter:
Anyone find it interesting that the prevalence of ADHD correlates with population density? (and yes the map showed per capita values.. I looked it up)
It's like if you live with too many people around you and not enough free space, you find it hard to focus.


No conclusion, just speculation.
But, my defensive side needs to point out that:
1) the correlation is valid, regardless of what is driving it.
2) as I pointed out, the ADHD prevalence figure he showed already controls for population size.

>> ^bmacs27:

That a correlation is valid does not make it interesting.
I'm also a bit confused by your claim. Places with extremely high density, e.g. NY, CA, and MA, have lower ADHD figures than places like AK.
>> ^grinter:
>> ^residue:
I think you're drawing conclusions with too little evidence. Cases of ADHD would also increase with density because there are simply more people. You would need to compare percentages by normalizing cases to the population before you could make any real conclusions. (But I agree with your conclusion in that it makes sense)
>> ^grinter:
Anyone find it interesting that the prevalence of ADHD correlates with population density? (and yes the map showed per capita values.. I looked it up)
It's like if you live with too many people around you and not enough free space, you find it hard to focus.


No conclusion, just speculation.
But, my defensive side needs to point out that:
1) the correlation is valid, regardless of what is driving it.
2) as I pointed out, the ADHD prevalence figure he showed already controls for population size.


Ok, fine.. I'll take a quick and sloppy look at the data:


The relationship doesn't hold for the super dense states, but if you look at states with under 200 people/m^2, then population density does strongly predict ADHD rate (linear regression: r^2 = 0.271, d.f. = 34, p = 0.001)
I'm not saying that I think density per se is really driving this relationship.. but still think it is worth considering.

He doesn't give any examples on how we could go the exact opposite direction, so I will: http://www.khanacademy.org.