Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder-- ADHD, or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, is a medical condition that affects how well someone can sit still, focus, and pay attention. People with ADHD have differences in the parts of their brains that control attention and activity. This means that they may have trouble focusing on some tasks and subjects.
You may have been diagnosed with ADHD, or perhaps you have a friend who shows an inability to sit still. ADHD is not my natural inclination. I can read a book or enjoy a conversation with a friend without glancing at my cellphone every few minutes, but, like everybody else, I'm fast falling under the spell of an increasingly fast-moving environment.
Remember when the phrase "Breaking News" popped up on the CNN screen about every three months or so? Now all news is "Breaking News" and bursts forth with gusts of energy and alarm. We get treated to the image of Sean "the spiciest" Spicer, seems like every weekday. That's entertainment! Donald Trump,the King of ADHD, tweets at odd hours of the day or night, and lives his life absorbing media off of the television screen.
Remember "No Drama Obama" and the days of relative calm? The whirlwind seemed mainly from Obama's right wing detractors. Now the detractors are in power. The Republicans and, further to the right, the Breitbart crowd, Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin, Michael Savage, Alex Jones, et al, loved pulling Obama's hide to pieces from the safety of their own broadcast booths. It's so much harder to operate from the Oval Office. But, I'm getting distracted..
Not just a case of right wing/left wing... the social network, the electronic universe, the digital world has raised the rhythm of media to a dizzying pace. And the media environment, as McLuhan explains, is our environment. McLuhan explains that technology has lifted our brains and central nervous systems outside of our bodies-- through cellphones, etc.-- and made us vulnerable. We, you and I, have enlisted our central nervous systems in the electronic vortex and found it extremely addictive. Yes, that's your cellphone calling to you from the desk near your bedpost in the middle of the night.
As a result... all news is Breaking News, we are analyzing Trump's first 100 days after only 56 days, your kids know adult ways and have seen everything about sex by about age 10 while you are catching your Twitter feed, following Facebook friends, reading this blog and, whoops-- Sean Spicer is back with another press briefing.
Caffeine and internet are the drugs of our era. Opioids, prescription painkillers, are the other drug in town, especially for the white working class in America. That segment of the population has seen their health suffer terribly, dying younger than their counterparts in the black and Hispanic population.
So the educated classes are drinking coffee, learning tech skills, and studying computer screens, and prospering in this era of digital technology, while the poorer ones numb their bodies and minds from the pain. But one thing we all share-- nobody is capable of getting off the ADHD merry-go-round.
Seems like we're either revved up, on caffeine, or giving up, with opioid numbness. Is there a healthy alternative?
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