ADD stands for Attention
Deficit Disorder and is a behavioral disorder that is diagnosed to people who
mainly have trouble focusing on one task at a time. While there is scientific
basis that having ADD involves a genetic mutation in one’s genes, there is many
more factors of acquiring this disorder that must be considered. While certain
people may be more susceptible to genetic mutations, the environment plays a
large role in determining whether or not these mutations will be expressed. Due
to the technological nature of our society, children’s minds are being shaped
in an entirely different way. Historically, toddler’s activities included
building up blocks, playing with cars, etc. However, today it is not uncommon
to see a toddler playing on their parent’s iPad, whether or not there is a
child-centered app in use. The devices used today are created so that the user
can direct their attention to more than one thing at once. In my opinion, this
constant change in direction of thought processes may have severe implications
on the developing brains of today’s youth. It is due to the aforementioned that allows for the term “Microwave
Generation” become a true and honest
description of our culture.
Whether or not today’s
youth has clinically diagnosed ADD, it is still prevalent in our society. This
is exemplified by the slang, “music-ADD”, which is a common excuse made by
teenagers as to why they cannot listen to a full song for its entirety.
Technology has allowed
society to move at a much quicker pace than in previous generations, making
youth accustomed to moving from fad to fad. The earliest fad I can remember
taking part in was Pogs.
After Pogs came Crazy
Bones, which lead into Pokémon cards,
and so forth. As we are a subculture, we
constantly subscribe to the newest and greatest thing. As a result of this,
myself along with my classmates David Miller, Sean Ryder and Jessica Tessier
were inspired to create a parody YouTube video bringing to light the comedy of
how quickly trends come in and out of style. The question is: What will happen…Oh!
Hey! What’s that!?
I feel like in today's society because we are constantly bombarded with information that forces us to multitask that we develop this ADD-like feeling where we can only give our attention to something for so long before we move on. If we didn't do this then we could potentially miss so much due to the speed everything travels these days. Your idea of a "microwave generation" is completely true and I agree that we've almost completely forgotten how to sit down and enjoy something rather than flip to the next thing when we're the slightest bit bored.
ReplyDeleteThere is no denying that our attention spans have severely declined in recent years. In my opinion, what doctors used to refer to diagnose as ADD can now apply to more people than ever, therefore the medical term has changed to ADHD and I believe the criteria for a diagnosis has actually increased. It is no shock, though, that this generation suffers from attention deficits. Not only are we constantly bombarded with information from the media and other institutions EVERYWHERE WE GO, but we are also given an abundance of choices that never existed before. What i mean by this is, if you look into our history and take, for example, the TV- there used to be very few TV channels when our parents were young children, they did not have a variety of channels to choose from, thus, they had to watch whatever was on. Today, however, we have unlimited channels as well as the Internet; we are not confined to what the television offers us. Technology now caters to us, as opposed to us having to adjust to it. In a world where we are immersed in a sea of choices, we naturally want to experience as many options as we can. Why would we finish a whole song when we have 1000 other songs to choose from in our iTunes library and thousands more we have yet to listen to on Youtube?
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