ADHD: Pay Attention, Now
Over the past quarter century, the numbers of those diagnosed
with ADHD (Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) has
increased dramatically. More sophisticated diagnostic tools and
social acceptance of the malady may be a partial explanation.
However, a consideration of social changes may be a worthwhile
exercise in trying to define reasons for the widespread growth
of this condition.
In ancient times, say the 1960s, life at home and work bore
little resemblance to our current climate. There had been many
early electronic advances and zeal for modernization permeated
the workplace where slow computers required hundreds of square
feet of office space. The invention of correcting-type tape (we
thought we'd died and gone to heaven with that one) and the
adoption of electric typewriters was a revolution to the hordes
of clerks and secretaries who inhabited thousands of offices,
taking dictation by hand and struggling with the vagaries of
purple ink ditto and ugly yellow heat-responsive thermograph
machines. At home, color spread through the vast wasteland of
television and 45 rpm records were replaced by long playing
albums and 8 track tapes. We gloated over AM-FM stereo radios in
our cars, the music drowning out the clicks of vacuum-powered
windshield wipers.
We had absolutely no conception of what was to come.
The advent of cassette tapes put the entire educational industry
of shorthand trainers out of business and a coveted skill became
virtually worthless. The copy machine reduced the need for grunt
office clerks, and receptionists no longer plugged in a web of
cables to connect callers. Word processing systems and then
personal computers forever changed the routine of typing.
At home, we moved from records to cassettes to CDs to ipods.
Television wasn't just in color, it was cable or dish with 100
more channels to share its wasteland. The pong and pac-man games
of bars and arcades moved into our living rooms in ever more
advanced and sophisticated forms. We dipped our toes into the
Internet and overnight learned to surf like a pro. Not only did
the telephone lose its dial, it became a copier, then became
totally portable and acquired the ability to take instant
pictures, receive text messages, and provide games and instant
worldwide access.
In the midst of this revolution in electronics, processes,
equipment, and communication, was one entity that didn't change:
the human mind. The flexibility and untapped potential of our
brains allowed us to invent and implement creations that placed
demands on us for which we were ill-equipped.
Our brains' hardwiring is virtually unchanged from prehistoric
times. Over the centuries, we have learned to cram in more and
more information without crashing from the overload. We handle
the threat of over-stimulation by filtering the constant sensory
bombardment. We acquire habits and routines that allow us to
carry out many of our daily activities without having to think
about what we're doing. When conscious thought is required, we
are most efficient when we attend to one or two things at a
time. We concentrate on one area in order to handle the action
required competently and immediately. We ignore irrelevant
materials floating around us because they are not our current
focus.
Traditionally, we have sought out quiet places for our deep
thinking. Spiritual leaders have performed their meditations in
silence, in caves, cloisters, deserts, and retreats. Libraries,
the place for readers and scholars to think, have always born a
funereal hush. Churches and mosques are silent caverns, allowing
individual visitors to concentrate on their prayers. High
pressure examinations are conducted in total silence. Mental
work, such as reading, writing, homework, and studying is
performed in a quiet corner or separate room.
Most of those traditions have long gone. At the dawn of the
Twenty-first Century, we find ourselves living in an atmosphere
of constant noise and imperative, will-not-be-ignored, stimuli.
Our children do their homework - trying to absorb more
information than prior generations could even imagine - with the
television on, the ipod or CD blaring, the cell phone ringing,
and the Internet chat room demanding attention.
When they are done with their homework, they play endless video
games. From the simple skateboard racing of entranced
pre-schoolers to the dark violence of adolescent contests, they
spend much of their time immersed in an interactive virtual
world that is light years away from the flickering images of the
Saturday afternoon westerns we watched with awe, or the few
hours of cartoons and sit coms that early television provided.
Motor vehicles are no longer just another means of
transportation. They have become electronics on wheels with boom
boxes, CD players, subscriber radio networks, and built-in
television monitors and DVDs.
Then we wonder at the explosion in ADHD which results in
medications for the condition being among the most popular
prescriptions issued.
We are surrounded by adults and children who lack the capacity
to concentrate on what they read, what they see, and what they
hear. When the brain fails to fully attend to new information,
it lacks the ability to lay down memory traces and the
information quickly fades away. The result is a loss of millions
for corporations who have to keep retraining, keep reminding,
keep lecturing their employees on data that is required for
their job. Customers and contracts are lost because forgotten
information leads to poor customer service, death to any
business.
Personal lives are diminished for those who can't concentrate
long enough to finish tasks they started with such good
intentions. Interpersonal relationships suffer due to poor
communication skills and the lack of that personal empathy which
requires one to intensively focus on another human being to
really understand their feelings.
While we continue to dispense the medications that act to filter
the stimuli overload, and use psychological modification
techniques to mold acceptable social behavior, we also need to
look inside our own homes and practice preventive care. Let's
limit our children's overexposure to the electronic world they
love. Let's model, and reinforce, the human need for quiet time
and introspection. Let's encourage reading, thinking, and family
discussions instead of using electronic babysitters to allow us
the time to get all that unimportant "stuff" done at the expense
of our children's future.
Our brains will thank us for it and our children will have
received a gift they will treasure throughout their lives.