Article Preview
TopIntroduction
Attention-Deficit Disorder or Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a cognitive disability that impedes individuals’ self-regulation, which results in hyperactivity, inattention, impulsivity, and distractibility (Ben-Naim et al., 2017). These symptoms impede communication because individuals with ADHD may be prone to impatience, missing parts of conversations, and misinterpreting social cues (Ben-Naim et al., 2017), which are important components of interpersonal communication. Because online platforms often serve as places for social support and information about health-related topics (Choudhury & De, 2014), it is important to understand how different online channels affect how individuals with ADHD disclose online. Because self-disclosure is the means through which relationships are developed, it is important to understand how different communication channels impact self-disclosure.
Self-disclosure refers to the process of revealing personal information to another person (Choi & Bazarova, 2014) and is the means through which relationships develop. Recent research has explored how people disclose personal information online (Bazarova & Choi, 2014; Chen & Sharma, 2013; Choi & Bazarova, 2014) and the factors that influence these disclosures (Hollenbaugh & Everett, 2013; Joinson et al., 2010; Misoch, 2015), including the role self-disclosure plays in the development of interpersonal relationships (Ledbetter et al., 2011). Existing research focuses on general self-disclosures in various online channels, including disclosure via blogs (Child et al., 2009; Hollenbaugh & Everett, 2013; Webb & Lee, 2011), Facebook (Bazarova, 2012; Ledbetter et al., 2011), and YouTube (Misoch, 2015). In general, the findings highlight that people often disclose on social media, but how much they disclose about a certain topic varies.
Research has also begun to examine mental health disclosures in online contexts. For instance, Choudhury and De (2014) examined mental health disclosures on Reddit, and they “established that any psychological consequence depends on the activities a technology enables, attributes of the users, and how the two interact” (p. 72). While such research highlights the importance of understanding the influence of technology on its specific users, research has yet to explore how online channels affect how non-neurotypical individuals disclose online. This study uses the online disinhibition effect as a theoretical framework for understanding disclosures of ADHD on non-anonymous (Facebook) and anonymous (Reddit) channels.
Online Disinhibition Effect
The online disinhibition effect occurs when people communicate online in ways that they would not normally in face-to-face contexts (Suler, 2004). Online disinhibition can be benign, toxic, or both. Benign disinhibition often occurs in anonymous settings and makes people more likely to express emotions, disclose personal information, or act in more kind and generous ways. Conversely, toxic disinhibition occurs when people take advantage of online environments by being more threatening or rude online than they would be offline (McEwan, 2017; Suler, 2004). In general, online disinhibition refers to a lack of self-control online that may come across as impulsive or unprofessional, which may be more frequent among individuals with ADHD.
Several factors contribute to both kinds of disinhibition, including dissociative and visual anonymity. Dissociative anonymity enhances the disinhibition effect because it occurs when people are able to separate their online actions from their offline actions since whatever they say or do does not have any bearing on their physical life (Suler, 2004). In other words, the messages posted online cannot be linked to the person who posted it. Conversely, visual anonymity refers to whether people can see or hear the people they are disclosing to (Suler, 2004). Thus, invisibility also contributes to the disinhibition effect because the idea of being invisible in online contexts provides the opportunity to interact without being able to see or hear one another (Suler, 2004).