Firstly, I think using the term ‘label’ can be a very damaging thing for any suspected case of neurodiversity, whether it’s ADHD or autism etc, because it’s dismissing very real issues and foregoing crucial support and understanding of our differences. It has become a way for people to conveniently brush these issues under the proverbial carpet, and further marginalises those who are at a high risk of already being marginalised and disadvantaged in life.
There is also simply more awareness of differences in neurobiology, ADHD, Autism, dyslexia, dyspraxia etc. so that’s one reason, technology or not, we’re looking back to famous people in history, or older family members and realising that they were just likely neurodivergent. So to put it bluntly, I think it’s always been around.
I think ADHD specifically gets put into the sceptics box more than any other ND condition because many traits and symptoms could describe the average person, and it’s also often very misunderstood. Many people struggle to pay attention to things, or find timekeeping hard, or have a messy house or get hyper focused on a particular thing, but this doesn’t mean that someone has ADHD. It’s a difference in neurobiology just like autism is.
I read an article a while ago about a young woman studying at a university in the states, and she got caught up in the recreational use of drugs such as Ritalin to increase test performance, except when she took it, it made everything clearer, as though she had only just seen the world around her in detail, rather than it being a recreational ‘high’ like her peers experienced, and that’s when she knew she had ADHD. she realised that her room was messy, her appearance was unkempt, and she had many other daily struggles with keeping up with work and basic timekeeping, and could only see these issues once she had taken the drugs. I don’t think ADHD is as common as it would suggest from statistics of children and adults getting diagnosed, but certainty there are likely milder cases where simple lifestyle changes could improve those difficulties.
The other societal issue becomes apparent when there are lots of children coming through the school system who come from chaotic, neglectful or difficult home lives, which can affect crucial areas of development such as healthy attachment, boundaries, routine, healthy food consumption, and brain development, creating a whole host of issues that can look very much like ADHD, but aren’t necessarily an actual difference in neurobiology. Or it could be in fact that the parents are undiagnosed ND, and struggle with their own lives. These types of young people are more likely to be NEET or get in trouble with the law. Poverty isn’t in itself to blame, but more home life and parenting skills. I’d imagine there are higher rates of ADHD diagnoses in children of teenage parents too. (Not that teenage parents can’t be good parents but it is a likelihood as it correlates with lower socio-economic backgrounds). Prisoners have many traits that correlate with ADHD or are actually diagnosed with it.
There’s also the argument for ADHD brain type being attuned to a more ‘hunter gatherer’ lifestyle, needing hyper focus for hunting and gathering and needing long periods of time to do ‘nothing’ in order to gain the energy for more hyperfocus. This would suggest that our modern society isn’t really set up for those with ADHD, especially in education. It’s not what I would describe as natural to have children sat in classrooms and being taught in the Victorian way we currently do in general nevermind SEN kids, but that’s an argument for another day. Some jobs are perfect for ADHD’s such as gardening, cleaning, making / creating and anything practical where this brain type can be put to amazing uses.
I think in general you are working yourself into a dead end by only exploring that correlation in isolation.