Tim writes more about Ritalin:
From what I've read--and I'm no expert, having long had essentially the _opposite_ of "attention deficit disorder," assuming it really even exists!--most children getting Ritalin are just being sedated. Behavior control in its purest form. While the kids stop their wandering attention and constant physical motions, it's because they're in a mental fog, just one step away from drooling. (The 8-year-old friend of my friend's son is so zoned out he can't play video games well at all...until the drugs wear off.)
That's very interesting, especially the part about video games. It sounds like overdosing to me. My wife says that a Ritalin overdose can also affect your heart rate and ability to sleep. Regarding video games, we went through some elaborate assessment process before Alex ended up on Ritalin. The school people did an assessment declaring he wasn't "learning disabled" but may have ADHD. Then he saw a behavioral psychologist for a few hours of observation, yielding the diagnosis. Lastly a different psychologist measured his behavior using some computer based game/test. The actual dosage was calibrated according to his effectiveness on the game/test, which involved memory, coordination, and ability to concentrate on something fundamentally boring. The test was performed 3 times to compare his performance before and after dosage. The point of all this is that there are other ways of using Ritalin. I don't think I'd tolerate its use on Alex if I didn't trust my wife. She has a much better background in such things than I, as well as a family doctor's experience with seeing the results of drug abuse.
BarelyObCrypto: ADD is more about lack of attention *control* than lack of attention itself. Hyperfocus is also a trait of ADHD, and computers tend to cause hyperfocus for a lot of ADDers.
BTW, I saw a comment that Bill Gates is almost certainly an ADD person...or maybe the comment was that he is borderline autistic?
This matches my own experiences with ADHD. That's the thing about the raw phenomenon and its overall lifestyle effect: you either find your niche and do OK, or you get sidelined. Rick.