Is Anxiety and ADHD the New Normal?

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Chris Grimes & Stephen Bird
July 24, 2025

Is Anxiety and ADHD the New Normal?

We’re not broken. We’re just built for a world that doesn’t exist anymore.

Let’s break it down, without sounding like a TED Talk hosted by a squirrel on Red Bull.

A (Not-So) Brief History of Being Wigged Out

Anxiety and ADHD are not new.

Back in the day, cavemen didn’t call it “Generalized Anxiety Disorder.”

They called it “That saber-tooth tiger looks hungry.” That twitchy, alert brain? It kept your ancestors alive.

ADHD?

That’s the hunter in the tribe who couldn’t sit still long enough to gather berries but could spot movement in the woods from a mile away and had laser focus when stalking a deer.

Back then, that wasn’t a diagnosis; it was job security.

So Why Does It Feel Like Everyone Has It Now?

  1. We Don’t Move Like We Used To
    Bodies were made to move. Today we sit in traffic, sit at desks, sit in front of Netflix, and then stare at our phones until bedtime. And we wonder why we’re anxious? Motion helps regulate attention and mood. Stillness, ironically, makes us unravel.

  2. Screens Are Hijacking Our Brains
    Every ping, ding, swipe, and like is a dopamine hit. Constant stimulation makes it hard to focus on anything longer than a TikTok. That’s not your fault; it’s your brain doing exactly what it was trained to do.

  3. We’re Overstimulated, Underconnected
    What used to fix a bad day? Chopping wood, talking to your uncle, and sitting around a fire. Now it’s 400 unread emails and five group chats. Our nervous systems weren’t built for this mess.

  4. More People Talk About It Now
    Back in the day, you didn’t say “I have ADHD,” you just got called “spirited” or “bad at school.” Anxiety was “nerves.” Trauma was “life.” Now that we've named it, which is good, it can also feel like everyone suddenly has something. Maybe we always did. We didn’t have the words.

So, Is It Normal?

Short answer? Yes.

Your brain is not broken. It’s doing its best to keep up in a world that’s moving faster than it ever has in human history.

The real anomaly might be the calm ones. Or the ones who have good boundaries and a full night’s sleep. (Unicorns, basically.)

You’re Not Alone

If you’ve got ADHD or anxiety, or both, welcome to the club. It's not a flaw.

It’s a signal. Sometimes it means slow down.

Sometimes it means you’re wired to do something incredible, but in a different way.

And sometimes it just means you need to walk around barefoot, drink some water, and quit doom-scrolling WebMD.