Abstract

I didn’t know I had ADHD until I downloaded TikTok. As it happens, neither did thousands of other people, specifically girls and women. Some undiagnosed users report being shown algorithmically curated ADHD-related content on TikTok which propelled them to seek their own diagnoses. Drawing on platform studies and disability studies, this thesis employs the persona studies research method (Bounegru et al., 2022), walkthrough method (Light et al., 2018), and thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2021) to provide insight into how TikTok’s algorithmic content curation and platform affordances foster and affect communities who unite over themes of ADHD. It finds that TikTok's algorithmic interpellation plays an influential role in identity formation and fostering networked publics around ADHD. It identifies key topics and themes prevalent in ADHD-related TikToks, illustrating the influence of the algorithm and medical authority in representations of ADHD on the platform. Overall, this thesis provides a nuanced understanding of TikTok’s ADHD publics, adding to the growing corpus of literature about identity formation and disability publics on algorithmic social media.