Pretty much this.
Same with the “I’m on the spectrum”. It takes a medical diagnosis to make that call and just because you are nerdy and awkward doesn’t mean you are
They don't reaaaally mean it, it's more like "if I'm not excelling or somewhat " smart", it must be because I'm autistic (A.K.A stupid)." Could apply to EQ as well. They have just substituted the old widely used terms of "retarded/stupid/dumb/loner/shy/brain fart etc" for autistic
Not only that, self depreciation makes people go easier on you or give you more leeway to make mistakes and such.
"Im autistic" is a rather useful excuse
In America, this extends to adulthood. Many belonging to a certain ideologue will make their mental challenges(or supposed mental challenges)or sexuality their whole identity.
They’re just saying they’re mentally challenged like how you would exaggerate some shit like if you like it neat you would say I’m OCD but you really aren’t
There's a lot more visibility on disorders these days, which is good, but because of that there are lots of people who self-diagnose based on minor behavior quirks. Especially OCD, ADHD and autism.
If you go on TikTok, you'll see some of this content targeting younger gen who may have self diagnosed. Also there's some content about how those with autism have unnatural abilities, almost like superpowers.
These two reasons are probably why.
This 'self diagnosis' is very damaging to the kids and folks who are genuinely struggling in school/life due to asd/adhd.
It's literally hell for kids in school becos our education system is wholly under-equipped to handle the issue.
Gonna stop here. Bp rising. Am parent to 2 legit downie kids.
These kids made me really dislike anyone who introduced themselves online saying they had ‘X mental disorder’ and made it all about themselves
Really made me hate having to explain myself to others when I was diagnosed with adhd later on
Were you diagnosed as an adult? I was
I struggle with how to feel about this post. The truth of the matter IS that some people/kids (girls especially) mask enough and don’t need as much support so others don’t see their difficulties. Autism especially has the word SPECTRUM in its name, and it affects everyone differently
I think it’s unfair to these kids to just summarily dismiss all teens who say they have self-diagnosed because a formal diagnosis is sometimes too costly, or might cause stigma so they avoid seeking diagnosis (among many other reasons).
Autistic, retard, OCD and ADHD have been misused a LOT and used as slurs/insults since I was in school nearly 2 decades ago (Hell, even bipolar and schizophrenia don’t mean what most people think it means). So I definitely understand the frustration and skepticism. My take is… if someone can describe how their disorder affects their functioning (ie not just a “quirk”) it’s not right for others to discount their experience of the world
Yes I was diagnosed recently after realising how my entire life I kept having the ‘same issues’ and it aas extremely hard for me to fix them. Googled and found ADHD, self-diagnosis is shitty since I keep wondering if it’s ‘just in my head’ so I went to private to make sure (public took too long and they even botched my queue)
You’re right. People mask it a lot and mental disorders exist on a spectrum. Even with ADHD, everyone experiences different ADHD symptoms and problems. While it’s true that these things do cost a lot, I feel self diagnosis is not reliable and they should really try to get an official one when they can…
Well the main problem with a lot of the self-diagnosed kids I met is that they’re making it their entire personality and become extremely obnoxious and rude in the sake of their ‘disorders’ and the truth is many of them are not actually suffering from it. Whether they think it’s cool to have one or actually believe they have something they don’t, and just find it fun to act like the world owes them. I wouldn’t know, honestly.
But I do give a bit of leeway or benefit of doubt. I don’t automatically assume all the self diagnosed people are faking it. It *usually* becomes obvious in time if they really do have an issue, and as long as they don’t act overly aggressive or rude to others (also depends on what their disorder is, I guess) it usually shouldn’t be a problem.
I was feeling extremely burnt out at work during a particularly rough point, finding it hard to focus for more than a minute or two at a time at work no matter what I tried (to-do lists, focus apps, putting phone away, pomodoro, quiet space, music to concentrate, caffeine, caffeine-free etc)
I was feeling extremely overwhelmed, vomiting from anxiety and the thought of meals made me retch not because I have an eating disorder but the number of steps needed to go cook something or buy food just felt impossible ([see this post for an example of how much uncontrollable overthinking can go on for even a seemingly simple task](https://www.reddit.com/r/adhdwomen/s/uEj9z3yET4))
I was googling symptoms, just wondering how to deal with burnout… and results for “signs of missed ADHD in adults” kept coming up. I ended up needing to take 3 months off work and spent that time researching… and the first time it clicked for me that this might be what I had been struggling with my whole childhood till now… I cried so hard because, knowing the symptoms now, it seems so obvious but all my teachers and family just said I was lazy and didn’t apply myself, forgetful, careless etc and I felt so.. undeserving of good things and success.
Quick side note: autistic people with super abilities are what’s referred to as autistic savants — it’s not a recent trend; it’s a real thing but one that’s been overly glorified/stereotyped for decades now (think of Rain Man, The Good Doctor, Sheldon in Big Bang) in a “this person is completely inept but hey at least they’re good at something” way
The representation is problematic for sure, not least because autism is a spectrum and not everyone has a savant ability to “redeem” them in the eyes of people who are misinformed 🥲
Like others said, trends and wanting to feel special as a teenager. Most of them will hopefully grow out of it. Honestly, there were previous trends in previous generations (being a hippie, being emo/goth/really skinny) and the adults turned out fine.
All that said, if you do encounter kids who seem to suffer issues like social anxiety or procrastination, but they blame it on self-diagnosed autism or adhd, it’s up to you whether to gently tell them to see the school counselor. And hopefully the counselor will treat the symptoms but without validating their self-diagnosis.
A lot of teens do struggle with various issues, but because social media tells that they have specific disorders as a result, they cling to these disorders as emotional crutches and core parts of their identity, which is inaccurate and unhealthy. When I was a teenager, I did not find some random mental health diagnosis to cling to, but I did suffer from mood swings and suicidal ideation, and I was discouraged from seeking help “because your problems are just normal teen problems”. We need to create a middle ground where even ‘normal teen problems’ can be treated symptomatically. The issue I’m seeing now, with not just teenagers but also adults, is that they find a mental health label to cling to (whether accurately or inaccurately), get obsessed with how their trauma comes from their parents and whatnot, and they use their mental health label to say they are permanently broken and cannot do this and that. In the first place, the point is to actually self-develop and move past your problems. The point is not to spend the rest of your life blaming people who hurt you and blaming your disorder for your behavior, but I see even grown adults do this, especially if they only read self-help books and they do not seek counselling/therapy. Meanwhile, counselors and therapists may sometimes refuse to label the patient, and only treat the symptoms, for exactly these reasons.
The autism label is particularly trendy, exactly because there are no meds for it, it is a lifelong condition, and some (genuinely) autistic people choose not to mask at all. Unlike depression where people will ask you to seek therapy and antidepressants, and unlike personality disorders where people will tell you to definitely seek therapy, autism is a trendy label for some non-autistic people to parade their ‘permanent brokenness’ because they can say “what can I do, there are no meds, and you can’t tell me to mask, I am 100% autistic forever unchangeably, so you/the world has to accommodate my whims and demands”.
> A lot of teens do struggle with various issues, but because social media tells that they have specific disorders as a result, they cling to these disorders as emotional crutches and core parts of their identity, which is inaccurate and unhealthy.
Spot on. I think some part of them clings to these disorders to validate that there is, in fact, nothing wrong with them, and the abnormal struggles that they're experiencing is normal and expected of them. Life is already damn difficult and stressful, but now they see a reason for that instead of 'it just is'.
Weeeeeeeelllll… I think the role of the counsellor/educator is to speak to them and provide support, yes, but also guide them towards seeking more professional psych help if needed. I agree many people experience some level of procrastination or anxiety without it having to be ADHD/ASD — the point though is that there are many more symptoms to lead to the diagnosis, and a criteria for diagnosis is that the symptoms are persistent, affect functioning and cause distress.
Without asking more the counsellor/educator wouldn’t know. Addressing the anxiety without addressing any underlying disorder is just… negligent. Like… it’s easy to say “everyone is a little anxious/sad/forgetful” but it’s harder to actually care and tease out whether there is a deeper issue instead of “treating the anxiety without validating the diagnosis”
Mental illness and neurodivergence are far far more common than people think — especially in girls and women, and especially in people with milder symptoms/lower support needs. It’s not a bad thing that people are realizing they might have these disorders through increased awareness — that’s what led me to seek a diagnosis (after being self-diagnosed for a few years). It’s not a trendy thing for me — it’s a missing piece of a puzzle that helped me understand the various different symptoms I had
At that point, we're basically all living with autism and masking, though, right? I mean, who are you (or anyone) to say how I think or feel in the first place? I don't know, perhaps I'm autistic.
That being said, I actually do have Bipolar I disorder. This is something you wouldn't be able to tell if you met me because I treat it and effectively manage it, it also isn't some badge of honor. Does this make me neurodivergent, too?
I don't know, maybe I'm just an asshole.
Not just kids, you got astrology, male astrology, hustle culture, aesthetics, bear vs man, etc. You got dudes into gooning together and shit. Idk if they actually do it, but have you ever those gotten messages asking if you wanna wank together (apparently no homo)? There's a fuck ton of nonsense online that catches your attention and effort
I would blame it on social media. There is a lot of misunderstanding and misconception. The most common are people saying they have OCD when really they're just a perfectionist or love "satisfying" content. Real OCD are very difficult to live with and can really ruin lives if not treated
Autism is just another condition that is also very misunderstood
Also to add to that, like the example OP gave, people tend to think that having some of the symptoms means they have the condition
Social media is to blame. New memes and slang words relating to autism have been catching on among Gen Z kids:
Neurospicy, Acoustic, Riding the Spectrum, Touch of the 'Tism
They appear to quirkify ASD and portray it as unique and therefore "cool". Not a good direction, as it leads to misunderstanding of ASD and those living with it.
As someone with a younger sibling in lower secondary, I hear all sorts of Gen Alpha brain rot from her and on my TikTok FYP sometimes.
Such phrases can also be found in the ig meme reels comments section like
“Is he acoustic?”
-as in the word acoustic replacing the word autistic so it won’t be like censored by the app itself as a form of bullying/harassment
The song that goes (I’m ashamed to say here)
“Sticking out your gyatt for the Rizzler
You’re so skibidi
You’re so fanum tax
I really want to be your sigma”
And on tiktok fyp has these kind of posts where you slide along and see what “insert aesthetic or personality” are you so maybe it kind of stems from there. It’s like those personality quizzes you take on the internet for fun etc
From your post this kind of implies your students don’t know the actual meaning of the words and know the slang version.
Handling a bunch of lower sec or upper pri is a handful once they have access to the internet because they going to say quite demeaning things to you and you need to be strong enough to handle it. I suggest actually give a comeback so good that they shut their mouth.
So my ex crush was a relief teacher for his secondary school and he’s in charge of a supplementary program for physics aka the pull-out class and he was getting students from each class for the program.
So one kid asked him “Cher what’s pull out”
My friend replied: “something your dad didn’t do 15 years ago”
Shut his mouth completely
Another incident be my science teacher
Student: omg you’re so randommmm
My Cher: you are random
yeah the terms i used above is considered as "brain rot" currently the brain rot thing is illegally expanding your 0.001 m\^2 coffin sized apartment with galvinised square steel, eco friendly wood veneers and screws borrowed from your aunt
This is becoming common in many countries. [This Oxford psychologist](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/14/opinion/mental-health-awareness.html?unlocked_article_code=1.uE0.BH0E.QkRpKsX_SWy7&smid=url-share) talks about how
> ... young people have been flooded with mental health information on social media and elsewhere. But much of it is unreliable and counterproductive.
> “I’m deeply concerned that this awareness craze,” Foulkes says, “is ironically making their mental health worse.”
Same with gender and sexuality labels. Last time it used to be "tomboy", or "I'm not like the other girls", now it's non-binary and changing pronouns every other week or all the way to trans. Not so much in Singapore though, cos of school uniforms and MOE being old-school, but in the West. And also tweens and early teens thinking they are bisexual when they actually haven't started feeling sexual attraction yet.
also why do you care about trans and non-binary kids? it's none of your business and nobody's getting hurt
bisexuality isn't all sexual, it also about romantic attraction as well
People do get hurt. They get a false sense of gender dysphoria when there actually isn’t any. Some pursue puberty blockers or hormone treatments and there are side effects (loss in bone density).
It also reinforces gender stereotypes. And it hurts the real trans kids when there are kids using the same trans label who are just not fully embracing gender stereotypes.
Gender dysphoria shouldn’t be cool. Gender dysphoria should be diagnosed and supported by psychological counselling to make sure that it’s not just coming from an exaggerated sense of gender stereotypes.
As another diagnosed person, I'm just going to assume it's one of those "shotgun fired in the dark" kind of thing, especially I've seen a bunch of those on Tumblr.
Most of them at least keep to themselves though.
Back in the day it was ‘oh I have depression’ to be cool, and now with mental health being a hot topic (as it should! People should be able to get help whenever they need to) it’s normal to emulate that sort of thing, especially as lost teenagers trying to figure out their place in the world.
I’m not taking away anyone’s experiences with depression, some may talk about real personal experiences to try and help them through it but for me personally I did go through an ‘emo phase’ in school, but after leaving secondary school I actually got into a proper rut and didn’t want to/couldn’t talk about it at all. Everyone knew me as a happy go lucky guy, slightly weird but ‘fun to be around’ and cheerful, but at home I was going through it hard.
I’m better now, but since then, I’ve lost multiple friends to suicide and the common trend seems to be that they seem totally fine, but just disappear and withdraw and next thing you hear, they’re gone. Some friends did reach out to talk about their struggles and I tried to help but they decided to go through with their plans, it’s heartbreaking.
So I’d just like to take this opportunity again to remind everyone who’s reading this to not let these kids put you off asking for help. Yes, teenagers have always been melodramatic (I know I was) but there’s help available and life CAN be fun again, and you can absolutely feel happy again, but it takes work, and you’ll have to pull yourself out of it but I can guarantee you that one day as long as you stick at it, it will be okay.
Won’t be easy, but it’s possible. Remember to treat yourself with the same kindness you would to those you love, because it’s easy to forget to love yourself too.
As a teen....thats not what we use the term for lmao
Saying "im autistic" nowadays means more like "im having brain fog/block" not "i have the mental illness known as autism". If you know what "im having a moment" means, its the same thing
To us autistic has lost its meaning of being the actual mental illness. Its just a catchy way to say dumb now.
If a friend does something dumb its not uncommon to hear another person remark "are you autistic" in the "are you dumb" manner
also you can hear people say acoustic instead of autistic. As for why, probably cause some games/platforms ban the word autistic and acoustic sounds close enough so its used instead, and once you use it a few times it starts to seep into your vocab
Same thing with kys and ky5. kys or kill yourself was banned, people typed ky5 and now ky5 means the same thing
Also same thing with retarded and restarted. You get the gist. Sense of humor is fucked already and a lot of it is either overboard racism/making fun of disabilities or just making fun of brain rot (your skibidi toilet, rizz, gyatt, galvanized square steel you get the idea)
lol, this exact thing is in every generation. It’s the millennials turn to be the alarmist old people over being out of touch with teen culture.
In 20 years you’ll get to listen to young people tell you how completely messed up it was for your generation to use words like that.
And so the wheel turns ..
I’m sorry but coming from someone who has a sibling that is actually on the ASD spectrum and is on the severe end, the usage of the word autistic like that is not at all catchy - it’s disgusting, insensitive and just downright disrespectful. If kids want to say that they’re dumb or stupid or basically a POS, just use those words. Don’t drag people’s lifelong disability into your daily vocabulary just because it doesn’t mean anything to you. Do better.
>If kids want to say that they’re dumb or stupid or basically a POS, just use those words. Don’t drag people’s lifelong disability into your daily vocabulary just because it doesn’t mean anything to you. Do better.
Yea...its not the only thing
This gen kinda saw all the sjws tryna push their politically right agenda, and decided to purposely do everything in their power to go against it.
saying N word, kelling kia, calling indians street shitters/diarrhea eaters, malays bombers/football players/thieves/future ITE, prcs china dogs/dog eaters/leeches, indonesians indogs/maids, bangladeshis slaves etc. are a lot more common
saying blatantly insensitive stuff about other religions, randomly saying inshallah/mashallah/bismillah is the most common
Joking about terrorist attacks like 9/11
Autism, down syndrome, dyslexia or other disabilities also extensively made fun of
Pedophillia, child porn/abuse, grooming children also gets laughs
goddamned molestation and rape is joked about
Even dark topics like self harm and suicide. Yup, way more commonly joked about than before
Saw people with Tourettes and Autism in schools i went to. Can guarantee 90-95% of the cohort was basically shit talking them like crazy behind their back and they made 0 friends. The guy that had tourettes would tic with the same sound over and over, so people decided to mock him by faking the sound he made, almost always everyone else laughed when someone did it.
Again with the autistic kid, always shouted out loud in group settings (assembly, lecture etc.), usually repeating the same phrase/gist. People started repeating the kids phrases with a mocking tone, again a lot of people laughed
A few even called them "pathlight escapees"
Basically if it was taboo, this gen went down the deep fucking end of taboo. Being blatantly disrespectful is deemed the in thing now. People grew tired of walking around eggshells and decided to crush as many eggshells as possible for fun
Once you crush 1 eggshell, it kinda becomes easy to crush everything. And with how many eggshells the SJWs put up, its hard not to crush any at all...
tbh if i switch to how id speak with my friends, the way id respond to your comment is simply:
Womp Womp
or
cry about it
Then probably laugh
Every generation has words like that. In my generation, the equivalent was "spastic" or spaz or retarded. All of which are terribly insensitive terms to use so flippantly. But, the wheel turns, we grow up and hopefully learn to be better than the stupid things that came out of our mouths when we were younger. Live and learn.
.-. Honestly, some parts of society problem can be sum as whether they will take responsibility or not. When was the last time they read a book that was not required or given to them? There is no sense of self-motivation or exploration. They let others dictate what they like and do.
I think they think it's cools to be not normal.
I have Austistic kids we are stress that they need to be normal and verbal so they can survive after we pass away.
I forgot my dinner after it got delivered and only found it fews days later when searching for where this foul smell is coming from. Ordered the same groceries multiple times because I tried to do the adult thing to tuck it away but things are often out of sight out of mind for me.
My executive function is non existent, there is the constant struggle to complete simple task like getting bills paid on time. Every month I'm paying late fee for some bills that I forgot. Just paid $1800 pure late fee/interest to DBS because they refuse to waive it, to be fair they did waive it before but I think they had enough of me haha.
I have ADHD, it's part of my life and it's painful (not physical pain) to live with. I was diagnose and put on meds.
It bothers me so much when people just casually goes "oh I'm a bit adhd today" or "everyone has adhd we all forget things". Stfu lol. Occasionally forgetting something is human. I forget my entire school bag in primary school, and forgot my keys so frequently during childhood that my parents make me sit outside until they get home as a punishment, had to hold in my pee and poo for hours. The number of times I got a beating for losing stuff in school.
It's not cute. It's not a trend. It's not cool. I wish I don't have ADHD. It really bothers me so much when people treat ADHD/Autism/OCD like fun quirk to put on, like oh I'm so special 😏
Saying "I'm autistic" without actually getting medically tested to be autistic is actually offensive to the actual autistic people.
They don't really know the challenges and social issues faced daily by the actual person with autism spectrum.
As with anything, a movement starts to correct an existing social issue, it then almost always overcorrects and swings into the the opposite extreme before eventually moving back to reasonable middle ground. We saw the exact same thing happen with feminism, LGBT issues, fat acceptance etc etc. Now we are seeing it with the lastest wave of mental health acceptance. But look on the bright side, this is just a passing side effect of a much needed and important change, which will eventually moderate itself. Give it time.
Yeah, I guess. They are young adult with rebellious attitude. **Hopefully**, they grow up to be more mature in the future.
It's going to be tough teaching them, but I guess it might be fruitful since they are in their rebellious age.
Actually, you can observe that (the way they type and the how they express themselves) in sub reddit in SG.
Overused because the "influencers" are identical, the lack of identify. So they just copy lor.
Thinking back on our good old days (where we didn't have tiktok, but other social media/ or word of mouth) didn't we have our fun too and want to look cool and rebellious. 
I find that many social media posts will start with .."I am autistic/have ADHD/ social anxiety/ whatever" and that is their 'get out of jail free' card. So, while being weirdly fashionable, mental health issues are also a great excuse for almost anything and anyone who challenges them is attacked.
I also wonder whether there are a significant number of mental health 'professionals' who actually aren't either that professional or competent. So many people seem to be diagnosed on the flimsiest of evidence.
Wasn't there some stats about something like 70% of folks working silicon valley are autistic? There seem to be this association that autistic folks may be weird but they are smart and successful.
It started from the autistism community to change the language and impression around autism marketing it as a cool superpower instead.
There was also a wild trend of people claiming depression whenever they did something wrong or as an introduction. As someone who actually went through depression, that' so messed up.
Hey OP I replied to a comment in this thread but wanted to personally address you as well:
I was diagnosed late, as a working adult in healthcare, and wish I’d had all this mental health info when I was a teen. I self-diagnosed first before seeking a formal diagnosis when I had the means/ was out of my family’s control.
I made it through uni graduating with first class honours, masking heavily the whole time — to everyone else I seemed normal, maybe a little lazy, alcoholic, peculiar. For me, it was a frequent struggle to do what seemed to come easily to everyone else and I used alcohol as a way to deal with the sensory and cognitive overwhelm (also the depression and anxiety from feeling like I was constantly on the brink of failure from having to keep everything together)
What I’m saying is… I kinda understand the frustration you feel when kids make up conditions/ misattribute their issues to diagnoses that have more stringent criteria for diagnosis (“I’m a little OCD/ bipolar” is a popular one. Even so, it’s important to recognize that it seems as though so many people are getting diagnosed these days because awareness and research are both growing
I would urge you, as an educator, to be curious and call them out more gently if you must — eg asking why they think they might have a disorder — and let parents know if you think they might be struggling because of an undiagnosed disorder.
There are some youtube shorts that I’ve seen where there would be people talking about how they got diagnosed with autism or OCD or some mental disorder then proceeds to list down some problems that 60-70% of people probably have done once in their life
I can tell how kids who are trying to find a place in their life or a reason to justify why the act the way that they do might be lured into believing that they have a mental disorder
maybe being an austic is much more cooler than an ah beng nowadays.
in my generation most guys had center parting or Armani haircut , just to be the cool kid
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They are all looking for a crutch to lean on to explain their underperformance or failure to meet expectations.
It's so much easier to blame an illness or condition than to face up to their own lack of ability or lack of effort.
'hey ma, I not stupid. Just autistic.'
It's because autism is simultaneously glorified through Rain Man kind of movies that depict savant autism and also garner a lot of empathy from others, since they have difficulties with basic functioning on the other side of the spectrum. Yeap, kids are doing illness matching and self diagnosing, it's good when they want to increase self awareness but bad when they weaponise it without a diagnose and ask for accommodations. Loads of people don't get that autistic people can have meltdowns over normal levels of noise, poor social skills to the point of throwing tantrums whenever they don't get their way, real life isn't as sensational as movies.
I find online like vrchat and other social places you have lots of people claiming to to have mental illness and autism. It's a attention grabbing disturbing behavior. They do it for attention and a reason to act stupid and not be accountable, some do it because they think it makes them enduring and likable.
The way I see it, you can take them seriously, that just basically means a justified invitation to remedial (double check if their marks are actually bad)
They still need a job when they grow up.
It seems to be the latest target after using OCD or ADHD as catch-all terms for actually normal albeit quirky behaviour
Like calling oneself "OCD" to just mean liking neatness, or "ADHD" to just mean being unfocused or distracted
It's also become a kind of substitute to insulting someone as (mentally) retarded
Definitely social media has aggravated the trends of casually tossing around the autism label and mimicking otherwise genuine neurodivergent behaviours, but I also think there may be lack of resources and spaces for serious discussion around mental health, which could potentially instill greater empathy
It's one thing to reduce stigma around mental health, but another to acknowledge genuine challenges and struggles instead of carelessly mocking them
Everyone wants to be special and wants to have some kind of story to tell about themselves coz of identity. Actually they are just being drama. There is nothing special about them
OP, it depends on which school you are teaching. Some kids don't realize there's another bunch of kids out there working hard, putting in effort in their studies, acing their tests, get involved in CCA, all to secure prestigious scholarships and land high-paying jobs. ...... not saying that there are no slackers in "good" schools, but it's all about the peers they have around them, exert great influence on their behaviours.
I've been teaching teens for 17 years. The problem with them these days is that they don't cultivate knowledge anymore. Why bother when everything is at your fingertips? They mostly have their faces buried in their phones 24/7, but don't actually retain much of what they've watched or learned. This has resulted in their average capability (as students) going way down. Dopamine fucks with your brain.
They aren't autistic, they are just getting dumber as a result of their lifestyles and actions.
I’ve been teaching for 7 years so I have a front row seat to teenagers and their antics. It’s actually quite nuanced:
1. For some, there’s a lot of crushing pressure (from society and parents) for them to do well so they retreat to self-deprecation to soften the blow of not being good enough in advance.
2. For others, they consume copious amounts of toxic social media that pokes fun at autistic and other differently baked/presenting people in the worst ways possible, so them echoing what they see online (either out of cruelty or conformity) is their way of staying relevant. Besides, this grants them social currency with others who consume the same media and consequent access to the in-group.
3. Lastly there are those whose self esteem is so crippling that they truly consider themselves stupid (which they conflate with being autistic).
So with kids you’re never going to get one fixed answer or be able to assume one single motivation for why they’re saying things. It could be one or more of the three reasons above, or something new altogether. Welcome to teaching 😂
it is not actual autism just being different and maybe edgy to be unique. however there is also another elephant in the room which is communication skills in the meatspace, probably this also exacerbates the phenomena of the "autistic" label on ordinary teenagers who just find it difficult to hold a conversation in a real life setting
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Wonder if one day kids think Down syndrome is cool, claim to have it and use it as reason for failing math.
I mean if autism is cool, why stop right there eh.
when I was a teenager, I always pretended to be high and walked like someone on drugs with stoned eyes and slurred speech. If you would see me then, you would really think that I was high.
I never took drugs then, and never did till now.
I'm an old man now btw. Too late to get involved in such things.
Not just kids. Adults too.
I remembered some outgoing people can say "I am an introvert". No bitch you aren't and it's not cool to pretend you are just because you want to seem 'mysterious'.
I get what you mean, but just wanna say outgoing introverts exist. I think some people do think it’s cool to say they are introverted just to sound unique
Eh to be fair its correct what I think most of us are ambiverts. Like my MBTI is ISFP with 80+% I, means I'm 10+% E. Which is a mix of both, which is ambivert mah
Even my extroverted friend who claims to be "93% extrovert only, not 97% ok!" is also (differently) ambivert bc not 100% E, in the way I'm not 100% I.
Haha
Real autistic kids would have learnt everything in math already(had a autistic classmate who was a genius in math and learnt h2 math topics for fun when he was in sec sch)
It's a trend. There's a subreddit r/fakedisordercringe and it's all of these kind of stuff. People faking autism, adhd, did, tourettes.
I understand the need to feel special. I wanted to be a "scene kid" in secondary school. But this trend seems particularly annoying as most of them use it as a way to explain away bad behaviours. It also makes it harder for people to believe kids with actual disorders.
Anything to be special. Teenage years are all about finding your identity and "the world doesn't understand me".
Pretty much this. Same with the “I’m on the spectrum”. It takes a medical diagnosis to make that call and just because you are nerdy and awkward doesn’t mean you are
I'm not on the spectrum. I'm just weird. And so is just about everybody.
They don't reaaaally mean it, it's more like "if I'm not excelling or somewhat " smart", it must be because I'm autistic (A.K.A stupid)." Could apply to EQ as well. They have just substituted the old widely used terms of "retarded/stupid/dumb/loner/shy/brain fart etc" for autistic
Not only that, self depreciation makes people go easier on you or give you more leeway to make mistakes and such. "Im autistic" is a rather useful excuse
Self deprecation?
self-deprecation
Ah. The Chuunibyou syndrome.
? I’m nearly 40 and I still feel like the world doesn’t get me.
Well, it's cooler to be an emo than whatever kids these days are getting into
In America, this extends to adulthood. Many belonging to a certain ideologue will make their mental challenges(or supposed mental challenges)or sexuality their whole identity.
They’re just saying they’re mentally challenged like how you would exaggerate some shit like if you like it neat you would say I’m OCD but you really aren’t
this is the right answer not everything is a ‘negative consequence of social media’ people
There's a lot more visibility on disorders these days, which is good, but because of that there are lots of people who self-diagnose based on minor behavior quirks. Especially OCD, ADHD and autism. If you go on TikTok, you'll see some of this content targeting younger gen who may have self diagnosed. Also there's some content about how those with autism have unnatural abilities, almost like superpowers. These two reasons are probably why.
This 'self diagnosis' is very damaging to the kids and folks who are genuinely struggling in school/life due to asd/adhd. It's literally hell for kids in school becos our education system is wholly under-equipped to handle the issue. Gonna stop here. Bp rising. Am parent to 2 legit downie kids.
These kids made me really dislike anyone who introduced themselves online saying they had ‘X mental disorder’ and made it all about themselves Really made me hate having to explain myself to others when I was diagnosed with adhd later on
Were you diagnosed as an adult? I was I struggle with how to feel about this post. The truth of the matter IS that some people/kids (girls especially) mask enough and don’t need as much support so others don’t see their difficulties. Autism especially has the word SPECTRUM in its name, and it affects everyone differently I think it’s unfair to these kids to just summarily dismiss all teens who say they have self-diagnosed because a formal diagnosis is sometimes too costly, or might cause stigma so they avoid seeking diagnosis (among many other reasons). Autistic, retard, OCD and ADHD have been misused a LOT and used as slurs/insults since I was in school nearly 2 decades ago (Hell, even bipolar and schizophrenia don’t mean what most people think it means). So I definitely understand the frustration and skepticism. My take is… if someone can describe how their disorder affects their functioning (ie not just a “quirk”) it’s not right for others to discount their experience of the world
Yes I was diagnosed recently after realising how my entire life I kept having the ‘same issues’ and it aas extremely hard for me to fix them. Googled and found ADHD, self-diagnosis is shitty since I keep wondering if it’s ‘just in my head’ so I went to private to make sure (public took too long and they even botched my queue) You’re right. People mask it a lot and mental disorders exist on a spectrum. Even with ADHD, everyone experiences different ADHD symptoms and problems. While it’s true that these things do cost a lot, I feel self diagnosis is not reliable and they should really try to get an official one when they can… Well the main problem with a lot of the self-diagnosed kids I met is that they’re making it their entire personality and become extremely obnoxious and rude in the sake of their ‘disorders’ and the truth is many of them are not actually suffering from it. Whether they think it’s cool to have one or actually believe they have something they don’t, and just find it fun to act like the world owes them. I wouldn’t know, honestly. But I do give a bit of leeway or benefit of doubt. I don’t automatically assume all the self diagnosed people are faking it. It *usually* becomes obvious in time if they really do have an issue, and as long as they don’t act overly aggressive or rude to others (also depends on what their disorder is, I guess) it usually shouldn’t be a problem.
Would you mind sharing what led you down the path of wanting to pursue a diagnosis?
I was feeling extremely burnt out at work during a particularly rough point, finding it hard to focus for more than a minute or two at a time at work no matter what I tried (to-do lists, focus apps, putting phone away, pomodoro, quiet space, music to concentrate, caffeine, caffeine-free etc) I was feeling extremely overwhelmed, vomiting from anxiety and the thought of meals made me retch not because I have an eating disorder but the number of steps needed to go cook something or buy food just felt impossible ([see this post for an example of how much uncontrollable overthinking can go on for even a seemingly simple task](https://www.reddit.com/r/adhdwomen/s/uEj9z3yET4)) I was googling symptoms, just wondering how to deal with burnout… and results for “signs of missed ADHD in adults” kept coming up. I ended up needing to take 3 months off work and spent that time researching… and the first time it clicked for me that this might be what I had been struggling with my whole childhood till now… I cried so hard because, knowing the symptoms now, it seems so obvious but all my teachers and family just said I was lazy and didn’t apply myself, forgetful, careless etc and I felt so.. undeserving of good things and success.
Ah it was an ADHD diagnosis? Thanks for sharing!
I was going to respond but I got tired of making the argument. Shit, does that mean I'm autistic?!
Quick side note: autistic people with super abilities are what’s referred to as autistic savants — it’s not a recent trend; it’s a real thing but one that’s been overly glorified/stereotyped for decades now (think of Rain Man, The Good Doctor, Sheldon in Big Bang) in a “this person is completely inept but hey at least they’re good at something” way The representation is problematic for sure, not least because autism is a spectrum and not everyone has a savant ability to “redeem” them in the eyes of people who are misinformed 🥲
Like others said, trends and wanting to feel special as a teenager. Most of them will hopefully grow out of it. Honestly, there were previous trends in previous generations (being a hippie, being emo/goth/really skinny) and the adults turned out fine. All that said, if you do encounter kids who seem to suffer issues like social anxiety or procrastination, but they blame it on self-diagnosed autism or adhd, it’s up to you whether to gently tell them to see the school counselor. And hopefully the counselor will treat the symptoms but without validating their self-diagnosis. A lot of teens do struggle with various issues, but because social media tells that they have specific disorders as a result, they cling to these disorders as emotional crutches and core parts of their identity, which is inaccurate and unhealthy. When I was a teenager, I did not find some random mental health diagnosis to cling to, but I did suffer from mood swings and suicidal ideation, and I was discouraged from seeking help “because your problems are just normal teen problems”. We need to create a middle ground where even ‘normal teen problems’ can be treated symptomatically. The issue I’m seeing now, with not just teenagers but also adults, is that they find a mental health label to cling to (whether accurately or inaccurately), get obsessed with how their trauma comes from their parents and whatnot, and they use their mental health label to say they are permanently broken and cannot do this and that. In the first place, the point is to actually self-develop and move past your problems. The point is not to spend the rest of your life blaming people who hurt you and blaming your disorder for your behavior, but I see even grown adults do this, especially if they only read self-help books and they do not seek counselling/therapy. Meanwhile, counselors and therapists may sometimes refuse to label the patient, and only treat the symptoms, for exactly these reasons. The autism label is particularly trendy, exactly because there are no meds for it, it is a lifelong condition, and some (genuinely) autistic people choose not to mask at all. Unlike depression where people will ask you to seek therapy and antidepressants, and unlike personality disorders where people will tell you to definitely seek therapy, autism is a trendy label for some non-autistic people to parade their ‘permanent brokenness’ because they can say “what can I do, there are no meds, and you can’t tell me to mask, I am 100% autistic forever unchangeably, so you/the world has to accommodate my whims and demands”.
> A lot of teens do struggle with various issues, but because social media tells that they have specific disorders as a result, they cling to these disorders as emotional crutches and core parts of their identity, which is inaccurate and unhealthy. Spot on. I think some part of them clings to these disorders to validate that there is, in fact, nothing wrong with them, and the abnormal struggles that they're experiencing is normal and expected of them. Life is already damn difficult and stressful, but now they see a reason for that instead of 'it just is'.
Weeeeeeeelllll… I think the role of the counsellor/educator is to speak to them and provide support, yes, but also guide them towards seeking more professional psych help if needed. I agree many people experience some level of procrastination or anxiety without it having to be ADHD/ASD — the point though is that there are many more symptoms to lead to the diagnosis, and a criteria for diagnosis is that the symptoms are persistent, affect functioning and cause distress. Without asking more the counsellor/educator wouldn’t know. Addressing the anxiety without addressing any underlying disorder is just… negligent. Like… it’s easy to say “everyone is a little anxious/sad/forgetful” but it’s harder to actually care and tease out whether there is a deeper issue instead of “treating the anxiety without validating the diagnosis” Mental illness and neurodivergence are far far more common than people think — especially in girls and women, and especially in people with milder symptoms/lower support needs. It’s not a bad thing that people are realizing they might have these disorders through increased awareness — that’s what led me to seek a diagnosis (after being self-diagnosed for a few years). It’s not a trendy thing for me — it’s a missing piece of a puzzle that helped me understand the various different symptoms I had
At that point, we're basically all living with autism and masking, though, right? I mean, who are you (or anyone) to say how I think or feel in the first place? I don't know, perhaps I'm autistic. That being said, I actually do have Bipolar I disorder. This is something you wouldn't be able to tell if you met me because I treat it and effectively manage it, it also isn't some badge of honor. Does this make me neurodivergent, too? I don't know, maybe I'm just an asshole.
\*\*slow clap\*\* Bravo, well said.
kids are just brainwashed by anything trending on social media
Not just kids, you got astrology, male astrology, hustle culture, aesthetics, bear vs man, etc. You got dudes into gooning together and shit. Idk if they actually do it, but have you ever those gotten messages asking if you wanna wank together (apparently no homo)? There's a fuck ton of nonsense online that catches your attention and effort
wtf is male astrology?
The alpha vs sigma vs beta, the Chad vs virgin, high test vs low test (not the blood work kind), etc. Idk I could go on and on
no, please don't. i roughly know and dont want to know any more.
So are you a lion, bear or wolf kinda guy?
Depending on the day, usually sloth.
Oh I thought you meant reading stock market charts
What's high test vs low test?
In Tiktok, there's the trending word, 'acoustic', to refer to jokingly being autistic
Yeahhh everyone is suddenly having anxiety also
I would blame it on social media. There is a lot of misunderstanding and misconception. The most common are people saying they have OCD when really they're just a perfectionist or love "satisfying" content. Real OCD are very difficult to live with and can really ruin lives if not treated Autism is just another condition that is also very misunderstood Also to add to that, like the example OP gave, people tend to think that having some of the symptoms means they have the condition
Social media is to blame. New memes and slang words relating to autism have been catching on among Gen Z kids: Neurospicy, Acoustic, Riding the Spectrum, Touch of the 'Tism They appear to quirkify ASD and portray it as unique and therefore "cool". Not a good direction, as it leads to misunderstanding of ASD and those living with it.
self diagnosed for attention
I have a fully adult friend who is doing this shit for the last few years and it makes everyone involved roll their eyes.
Preach brother add depression inside, HAll
As someone with a younger sibling in lower secondary, I hear all sorts of Gen Alpha brain rot from her and on my TikTok FYP sometimes. Such phrases can also be found in the ig meme reels comments section like “Is he acoustic?” -as in the word acoustic replacing the word autistic so it won’t be like censored by the app itself as a form of bullying/harassment The song that goes (I’m ashamed to say here) “Sticking out your gyatt for the Rizzler You’re so skibidi You’re so fanum tax I really want to be your sigma” And on tiktok fyp has these kind of posts where you slide along and see what “insert aesthetic or personality” are you so maybe it kind of stems from there. It’s like those personality quizzes you take on the internet for fun etc From your post this kind of implies your students don’t know the actual meaning of the words and know the slang version. Handling a bunch of lower sec or upper pri is a handful once they have access to the internet because they going to say quite demeaning things to you and you need to be strong enough to handle it. I suggest actually give a comeback so good that they shut their mouth. So my ex crush was a relief teacher for his secondary school and he’s in charge of a supplementary program for physics aka the pull-out class and he was getting students from each class for the program. So one kid asked him “Cher what’s pull out” My friend replied: “something your dad didn’t do 15 years ago” Shut his mouth completely Another incident be my science teacher Student: omg you’re so randommmm My Cher: you are random
Some of my brain cells just died reading this. Nothing to do with you—just the content.
yeah the terms i used above is considered as "brain rot" currently the brain rot thing is illegally expanding your 0.001 m\^2 coffin sized apartment with galvinised square steel, eco friendly wood veneers and screws borrowed from your aunt
I want to die after reading that song bit.
Tiktok effect
This is becoming common in many countries. [This Oxford psychologist](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/14/opinion/mental-health-awareness.html?unlocked_article_code=1.uE0.BH0E.QkRpKsX_SWy7&smid=url-share) talks about how > ... young people have been flooded with mental health information on social media and elsewhere. But much of it is unreliable and counterproductive. > “I’m deeply concerned that this awareness craze,” Foulkes says, “is ironically making their mental health worse.”
Same with gender and sexuality labels. Last time it used to be "tomboy", or "I'm not like the other girls", now it's non-binary and changing pronouns every other week or all the way to trans. Not so much in Singapore though, cos of school uniforms and MOE being old-school, but in the West. And also tweens and early teens thinking they are bisexual when they actually haven't started feeling sexual attraction yet.
also why do you care about trans and non-binary kids? it's none of your business and nobody's getting hurt bisexuality isn't all sexual, it also about romantic attraction as well
People do get hurt. They get a false sense of gender dysphoria when there actually isn’t any. Some pursue puberty blockers or hormone treatments and there are side effects (loss in bone density). It also reinforces gender stereotypes. And it hurts the real trans kids when there are kids using the same trans label who are just not fully embracing gender stereotypes. Gender dysphoria shouldn’t be cool. Gender dysphoria should be diagnosed and supported by psychological counselling to make sure that it’s not just coming from an exaggerated sense of gender stereotypes.
As someone who has high functioning autism, I'm genuinely really really confused. Maybe I'm too much of a boomer to understand
As another diagnosed person, I'm just going to assume it's one of those "shotgun fired in the dark" kind of thing, especially I've seen a bunch of those on Tumblr. Most of them at least keep to themselves though.
Do you have a diagnosis?
Yep, but I chose not to apply for special consideration during exams
Back in the day it was ‘oh I have depression’ to be cool, and now with mental health being a hot topic (as it should! People should be able to get help whenever they need to) it’s normal to emulate that sort of thing, especially as lost teenagers trying to figure out their place in the world. I’m not taking away anyone’s experiences with depression, some may talk about real personal experiences to try and help them through it but for me personally I did go through an ‘emo phase’ in school, but after leaving secondary school I actually got into a proper rut and didn’t want to/couldn’t talk about it at all. Everyone knew me as a happy go lucky guy, slightly weird but ‘fun to be around’ and cheerful, but at home I was going through it hard. I’m better now, but since then, I’ve lost multiple friends to suicide and the common trend seems to be that they seem totally fine, but just disappear and withdraw and next thing you hear, they’re gone. Some friends did reach out to talk about their struggles and I tried to help but they decided to go through with their plans, it’s heartbreaking. So I’d just like to take this opportunity again to remind everyone who’s reading this to not let these kids put you off asking for help. Yes, teenagers have always been melodramatic (I know I was) but there’s help available and life CAN be fun again, and you can absolutely feel happy again, but it takes work, and you’ll have to pull yourself out of it but I can guarantee you that one day as long as you stick at it, it will be okay. Won’t be easy, but it’s possible. Remember to treat yourself with the same kindness you would to those you love, because it’s easy to forget to love yourself too.
As a teen....thats not what we use the term for lmao Saying "im autistic" nowadays means more like "im having brain fog/block" not "i have the mental illness known as autism". If you know what "im having a moment" means, its the same thing To us autistic has lost its meaning of being the actual mental illness. Its just a catchy way to say dumb now. If a friend does something dumb its not uncommon to hear another person remark "are you autistic" in the "are you dumb" manner also you can hear people say acoustic instead of autistic. As for why, probably cause some games/platforms ban the word autistic and acoustic sounds close enough so its used instead, and once you use it a few times it starts to seep into your vocab Same thing with kys and ky5. kys or kill yourself was banned, people typed ky5 and now ky5 means the same thing Also same thing with retarded and restarted. You get the gist. Sense of humor is fucked already and a lot of it is either overboard racism/making fun of disabilities or just making fun of brain rot (your skibidi toilet, rizz, gyatt, galvanized square steel you get the idea)
lol, this exact thing is in every generation. It’s the millennials turn to be the alarmist old people over being out of touch with teen culture. In 20 years you’ll get to listen to young people tell you how completely messed up it was for your generation to use words like that. And so the wheel turns ..
I’m sorry but coming from someone who has a sibling that is actually on the ASD spectrum and is on the severe end, the usage of the word autistic like that is not at all catchy - it’s disgusting, insensitive and just downright disrespectful. If kids want to say that they’re dumb or stupid or basically a POS, just use those words. Don’t drag people’s lifelong disability into your daily vocabulary just because it doesn’t mean anything to you. Do better.
>If kids want to say that they’re dumb or stupid or basically a POS, just use those words. Don’t drag people’s lifelong disability into your daily vocabulary just because it doesn’t mean anything to you. Do better. Yea...its not the only thing This gen kinda saw all the sjws tryna push their politically right agenda, and decided to purposely do everything in their power to go against it. saying N word, kelling kia, calling indians street shitters/diarrhea eaters, malays bombers/football players/thieves/future ITE, prcs china dogs/dog eaters/leeches, indonesians indogs/maids, bangladeshis slaves etc. are a lot more common saying blatantly insensitive stuff about other religions, randomly saying inshallah/mashallah/bismillah is the most common Joking about terrorist attacks like 9/11 Autism, down syndrome, dyslexia or other disabilities also extensively made fun of Pedophillia, child porn/abuse, grooming children also gets laughs goddamned molestation and rape is joked about Even dark topics like self harm and suicide. Yup, way more commonly joked about than before Saw people with Tourettes and Autism in schools i went to. Can guarantee 90-95% of the cohort was basically shit talking them like crazy behind their back and they made 0 friends. The guy that had tourettes would tic with the same sound over and over, so people decided to mock him by faking the sound he made, almost always everyone else laughed when someone did it. Again with the autistic kid, always shouted out loud in group settings (assembly, lecture etc.), usually repeating the same phrase/gist. People started repeating the kids phrases with a mocking tone, again a lot of people laughed A few even called them "pathlight escapees" Basically if it was taboo, this gen went down the deep fucking end of taboo. Being blatantly disrespectful is deemed the in thing now. People grew tired of walking around eggshells and decided to crush as many eggshells as possible for fun Once you crush 1 eggshell, it kinda becomes easy to crush everything. And with how many eggshells the SJWs put up, its hard not to crush any at all... tbh if i switch to how id speak with my friends, the way id respond to your comment is simply: Womp Womp or cry about it Then probably laugh
That was a measured and insightful response. Thank you for sharing.
Every generation has words like that. In my generation, the equivalent was "spastic" or spaz or retarded. All of which are terribly insensitive terms to use so flippantly. But, the wheel turns, we grow up and hopefully learn to be better than the stupid things that came out of our mouths when we were younger. Live and learn.
Wow, that's insightful. And very concerning.
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>Fair to assume your school is a second page school like mine? SAP school, wont name because one of the people mentioned still study there
That is so dumb
TLDR: they sent their regards.
.-. Honestly, some parts of society problem can be sum as whether they will take responsibility or not. When was the last time they read a book that was not required or given to them? There is no sense of self-motivation or exploration. They let others dictate what they like and do.
I think they think it's cools to be not normal. I have Austistic kids we are stress that they need to be normal and verbal so they can survive after we pass away.
I forgot my dinner after it got delivered and only found it fews days later when searching for where this foul smell is coming from. Ordered the same groceries multiple times because I tried to do the adult thing to tuck it away but things are often out of sight out of mind for me. My executive function is non existent, there is the constant struggle to complete simple task like getting bills paid on time. Every month I'm paying late fee for some bills that I forgot. Just paid $1800 pure late fee/interest to DBS because they refuse to waive it, to be fair they did waive it before but I think they had enough of me haha. I have ADHD, it's part of my life and it's painful (not physical pain) to live with. I was diagnose and put on meds. It bothers me so much when people just casually goes "oh I'm a bit adhd today" or "everyone has adhd we all forget things". Stfu lol. Occasionally forgetting something is human. I forget my entire school bag in primary school, and forgot my keys so frequently during childhood that my parents make me sit outside until they get home as a punishment, had to hold in my pee and poo for hours. The number of times I got a beating for losing stuff in school. It's not cute. It's not a trend. It's not cool. I wish I don't have ADHD. It really bothers me so much when people treat ADHD/Autism/OCD like fun quirk to put on, like oh I'm so special 😏
Social media fucking up the world… Makes people trivialise individuals who really have such problems.
Using as a crutch. Instead of an internal locus of control, now it's an external locus of control.
Saying "I'm autistic" without actually getting medically tested to be autistic is actually offensive to the actual autistic people. They don't really know the challenges and social issues faced daily by the actual person with autism spectrum.
As with anything, a movement starts to correct an existing social issue, it then almost always overcorrects and swings into the the opposite extreme before eventually moving back to reasonable middle ground. We saw the exact same thing happen with feminism, LGBT issues, fat acceptance etc etc. Now we are seeing it with the lastest wave of mental health acceptance. But look on the bright side, this is just a passing side effect of a much needed and important change, which will eventually moderate itself. Give it time.
Yeah, I guess. They are young adult with rebellious attitude. **Hopefully**, they grow up to be more mature in the future. It's going to be tough teaching them, but I guess it might be fruitful since they are in their rebellious age. Actually, you can observe that (the way they type and the how they express themselves) in sub reddit in SG. Overused because the "influencers" are identical, the lack of identify. So they just copy lor. Thinking back on our good old days (where we didn't have tiktok, but other social media/ or word of mouth) didn't we have our fun too and want to look cool and rebellious. 
kids are pretty retarded no matter where or when. we jus find different things to act retarded about.
Social media teaching impressionable minds that self-diagnosis is the only thing that matters.
\*long sigh in Gen X\*
Yep it's ridiculous
I find that many social media posts will start with .."I am autistic/have ADHD/ social anxiety/ whatever" and that is their 'get out of jail free' card. So, while being weirdly fashionable, mental health issues are also a great excuse for almost anything and anyone who challenges them is attacked. I also wonder whether there are a significant number of mental health 'professionals' who actually aren't either that professional or competent. So many people seem to be diagnosed on the flimsiest of evidence.
Wasn't there some stats about something like 70% of folks working silicon valley are autistic? There seem to be this association that autistic folks may be weird but they are smart and successful. It started from the autistism community to change the language and impression around autism marketing it as a cool superpower instead.
Is it so that if you call them out on anything, they’ll use it like a Get Out Of Jail card?
There was also a wild trend of people claiming depression whenever they did something wrong or as an introduction. As someone who actually went through depression, that' so messed up.
As a millennial, this is the equivalent of us going: “omg you’re so retarded sia” “omg i’m so random” “omg that’s so spastic” Same difference.
Hey OP I replied to a comment in this thread but wanted to personally address you as well: I was diagnosed late, as a working adult in healthcare, and wish I’d had all this mental health info when I was a teen. I self-diagnosed first before seeking a formal diagnosis when I had the means/ was out of my family’s control. I made it through uni graduating with first class honours, masking heavily the whole time — to everyone else I seemed normal, maybe a little lazy, alcoholic, peculiar. For me, it was a frequent struggle to do what seemed to come easily to everyone else and I used alcohol as a way to deal with the sensory and cognitive overwhelm (also the depression and anxiety from feeling like I was constantly on the brink of failure from having to keep everything together) What I’m saying is… I kinda understand the frustration you feel when kids make up conditions/ misattribute their issues to diagnoses that have more stringent criteria for diagnosis (“I’m a little OCD/ bipolar” is a popular one. Even so, it’s important to recognize that it seems as though so many people are getting diagnosed these days because awareness and research are both growing I would urge you, as an educator, to be curious and call them out more gently if you must — eg asking why they think they might have a disorder — and let parents know if you think they might be struggling because of an undiagnosed disorder.
We used to say ‘I’m autistic/braingapped’ in college it just means ‘I’m lazy don’t want to study’
young sheldon wannabe
Sheesh, Gen Alphas, amirite?
brain rot
Lol, I used to have actual photographic memory, but it was an activated thing that I had to focus to do. Made my uni years super easy
Tiktok needs to stop making [insert mental illness or neurodivergency here] a trend.
It’s the same thing as when they say they are acoustic (autistic) it’s the same as no cap, no hate, etc Generation gap
There are some youtube shorts that I’ve seen where there would be people talking about how they got diagnosed with autism or OCD or some mental disorder then proceeds to list down some problems that 60-70% of people probably have done once in their life I can tell how kids who are trying to find a place in their life or a reason to justify why the act the way that they do might be lured into believing that they have a mental disorder
maybe being an austic is much more cooler than an ah beng nowadays. in my generation most guys had center parting or Armani haircut , just to be the cool kid
I'm guessing they've been medically diagnosed with autism, just like my son has
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They are all looking for a crutch to lean on to explain their underperformance or failure to meet expectations. It's so much easier to blame an illness or condition than to face up to their own lack of ability or lack of effort. 'hey ma, I not stupid. Just autistic.'
It's because autism is simultaneously glorified through Rain Man kind of movies that depict savant autism and also garner a lot of empathy from others, since they have difficulties with basic functioning on the other side of the spectrum. Yeap, kids are doing illness matching and self diagnosing, it's good when they want to increase self awareness but bad when they weaponise it without a diagnose and ask for accommodations. Loads of people don't get that autistic people can have meltdowns over normal levels of noise, poor social skills to the point of throwing tantrums whenever they don't get their way, real life isn't as sensational as movies.
I find online like vrchat and other social places you have lots of people claiming to to have mental illness and autism. It's a attention grabbing disturbing behavior. They do it for attention and a reason to act stupid and not be accountable, some do it because they think it makes them enduring and likable.
Sjw ahh kids
When I was in sec school, everyone was emo then ocd
Too much social media.
The way I see it, you can take them seriously, that just basically means a justified invitation to remedial (double check if their marks are actually bad) They still need a job when they grow up.
i think they are using "autistic" as a slang, like how people used to call each other "retarded" before we all got woke. lol
It seems to be the latest target after using OCD or ADHD as catch-all terms for actually normal albeit quirky behaviour Like calling oneself "OCD" to just mean liking neatness, or "ADHD" to just mean being unfocused or distracted It's also become a kind of substitute to insulting someone as (mentally) retarded Definitely social media has aggravated the trends of casually tossing around the autism label and mimicking otherwise genuine neurodivergent behaviours, but I also think there may be lack of resources and spaces for serious discussion around mental health, which could potentially instill greater empathy It's one thing to reduce stigma around mental health, but another to acknowledge genuine challenges and struggles instead of carelessly mocking them
Everyone wants to be special and wants to have some kind of story to tell about themselves coz of identity. Actually they are just being drama. There is nothing special about them
Tik Tok is the problem, nothing wrong with them
OP, it depends on which school you are teaching. Some kids don't realize there's another bunch of kids out there working hard, putting in effort in their studies, acing their tests, get involved in CCA, all to secure prestigious scholarships and land high-paying jobs. ...... not saying that there are no slackers in "good" schools, but it's all about the peers they have around them, exert great influence on their behaviours.
I've been teaching teens for 17 years. The problem with them these days is that they don't cultivate knowledge anymore. Why bother when everything is at your fingertips? They mostly have their faces buried in their phones 24/7, but don't actually retain much of what they've watched or learned. This has resulted in their average capability (as students) going way down. Dopamine fucks with your brain. They aren't autistic, they are just getting dumber as a result of their lifestyles and actions.
they watched too much "Extraordinary Attorney Woo"
its not, its just silly people using a tag to make excuses for themselves. youll find these sorts at all stages of life
I’ve been teaching for 7 years so I have a front row seat to teenagers and their antics. It’s actually quite nuanced: 1. For some, there’s a lot of crushing pressure (from society and parents) for them to do well so they retreat to self-deprecation to soften the blow of not being good enough in advance. 2. For others, they consume copious amounts of toxic social media that pokes fun at autistic and other differently baked/presenting people in the worst ways possible, so them echoing what they see online (either out of cruelty or conformity) is their way of staying relevant. Besides, this grants them social currency with others who consume the same media and consequent access to the in-group. 3. Lastly there are those whose self esteem is so crippling that they truly consider themselves stupid (which they conflate with being autistic). So with kids you’re never going to get one fixed answer or be able to assume one single motivation for why they’re saying things. It could be one or more of the three reasons above, or something new altogether. Welcome to teaching 😂
Yes.
Probably memeing on you. It's cool to be a minority.
Gamer culture, being called autistic happens a lot in video games and it's diluting the original meaning of the word
Gives them the license to do what they wanted?
Level up on the "Privilege Mindset" I guess..
it is not actual autism just being different and maybe edgy to be unique. however there is also another elephant in the room which is communication skills in the meatspace, probably this also exacerbates the phenomena of the "autistic" label on ordinary teenagers who just find it difficult to hold a conversation in a real life setting
[it’s rubbish like these](https://youtu.be/r4KtPb90ELQ?si=CUBXDKeOhQD5JCHq)
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Wonder if one day kids think Down syndrome is cool, claim to have it and use it as reason for failing math. I mean if autism is cool, why stop right there eh.
Makes the parents feel special
Me and my wife both work in schools, and we mutually agree not to have kids
It’s a new trending self-deprecating term that to them replaces “I’m dumb”
kids nowaday is strawberry
Last time... Is just stupid only....Now so many pattern
Children and teens use language differently from adults, don't worry. Next year it'll be some new thing.
when I was a teenager, I always pretended to be high and walked like someone on drugs with stoned eyes and slurred speech. If you would see me then, you would really think that I was high. I never took drugs then, and never did till now. I'm an old man now btw. Too late to get involved in such things.
We had Beavis and Butthead back in the day, nowhere like the kiddos right now, ha.
My time has come.
Not just kids. Adults too. I remembered some outgoing people can say "I am an introvert". No bitch you aren't and it's not cool to pretend you are just because you want to seem 'mysterious'.
I get what you mean, but just wanna say outgoing introverts exist. I think some people do think it’s cool to say they are introverted just to sound unique
how do you know they are not an introvert though? the introverts i know seem really outgoing but only to close friends/people they know well.
The most extroverted person who I know who - i quote - "cant stand being alone" called herself an Ambivert.
Eh to be fair its correct what I think most of us are ambiverts. Like my MBTI is ISFP with 80+% I, means I'm 10+% E. Which is a mix of both, which is ambivert mah Even my extroverted friend who claims to be "93% extrovert only, not 97% ok!" is also (differently) ambivert bc not 100% E, in the way I'm not 100% I. Haha
Kids don't want to take responsibility basically...
Fitting in mah, kids follow everything they see any trends they follow. If you don’t do it you out of the group.
Real autistic kids would have learnt everything in math already(had a autistic classmate who was a genius in math and learnt h2 math topics for fun when he was in sec sch)
It's a trend. There's a subreddit r/fakedisordercringe and it's all of these kind of stuff. People faking autism, adhd, did, tourettes. I understand the need to feel special. I wanted to be a "scene kid" in secondary school. But this trend seems particularly annoying as most of them use it as a way to explain away bad behaviours. It also makes it harder for people to believe kids with actual disorders.