In a recent episode of the I’m ADHD! No You’re Not podcast, Robbie Williams joked that he collects diagnoses like scout badges. ADHD, bipolar, eating disorders, the full set. It was funny, but also uncomfortably accurate for our times.
We live in an age where labels have become a kind of social currency. We wear them, trade them, even compete for them. It reminds me of my work with computers, where everything depends on neat categories and structured data.
When you build a computer system, you design a database that can hold every detail in its proper place. It’s orderly, efficient, and logical. But society has started doing the same thing to people. We’ve begun tagging and sorting ourselves as if we’re entries in a spreadsheet.
Online dating is a perfect example. People are reduced to a list of attributes: hair colour, job title, height, and interests. The mystery of love is gone. You’re a collection of drop-down options.
The same logic has crept into education. Diagnoses like autism and ADHD have exploded, partly because awareness has improved, but also because the system demands labels before help can be given. If your child needs support, you have to go through a formal process. An educational psychologist assesses them, writes a report, and ticks the right box. Only then does the funding arrive.
Labels can help. They offer understanding and community, and for some people, they’re a relief after years of confusion. But they also risk shrinking a person down to a single definition. Once a label sticks, it’s hard to move past it.
Social media has supercharged this. TikTok in particular thrives on categorisation. The algorithm watches what you watch, and then feeds you more of the same. ADHD TikTok, autism TikTok, anxiety TikTok. It can be supportive, but also self-reinforcing. A feedback loop dressed up as solidarity.
There’s a theory called the extended mind, which suggests that our tools become part of us. The sword to the warrior, the hammer to the blacksmith, the phone to the modern human. It’s a good idea, but it’s also a warning. When we use technology to remember, organise, and even think for us, we risk becoming extensions of the system rather than the other way round.
Governments are just as bad. Bureaucracies love categories. They make people easier to count and control. Politics now runs on micro-targeting, dividing us into ever smaller slices. It looks clever, but it’s not clear if it actually works or is even useful.
We all do it though. We curate our own self-databases. Our traits, our preferences, our conditions, our hashtags. It’s comforting to feel known, even if it’s by an algorithm.
But at some point, we need to remember that we built these systems. They don’t get to define us.
Managing Editor of Slugger O’Toole. I help to manage Slugger by taking care of the site as well as running our live events. My background is in business, marketing and IT. My politics tend towards middle-of-the-road pragmatism; I am not a member of any political party. When not stuck in front of a screen, I am a parkrun Run Director.
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