Cognitive overload in the Attention Economy.

Alchin, David Rhys · Br J Psychiatry · 2026

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Abstract

In recent years, adult diagnoses of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder have risen sharply. Existing diagnostic frameworks appear unable to distinguish neurodevelopmental from environmentally mediated attentional deficit. Psychiatry requires a renewed clinical framework to recognise the impact of the modern information environment on human cognition. The advertising industry has already achieved this with precision.