ADD Culture

The ADD Culture

by: Erin Pembroke

                                                                           6/29/2011      

            Have you noticed a certain trend in society? This trend I am talking about seems to have some sort of effect on both the youth and adults. Guess what trend I am talking about; ADD or ADHD. Yep, you are reading this correctly. ADD.

            I have noticed that everywhere I go, pre-teenagers and teenagers discuss a topic and then five minutes later they forget what they were discussing or laugh for no reason (perhaps because they forgot what they said). I have also noticed that adults seem to rock back and forth or waver in the chairs they are sitting on when they have to wait a long time for something. For instance, when I was at a DMV, I noticed that an older Jewish man sat down and five minutes later, he wavered back and forth in his chair for about thirty minutes. I do not think that this man was aware of what he was doing because if he were, I think he would stop rocking back and forth in his chair.

            I have also noticed that as young adults and teenagers get more absorbed in pop-culture and television icons, they tend to imitate them or act like them, thus taking in the lack of ability to concentrate and pay attention because the celebrities do not seem to concentrate or pay attention. This lack of concentration can be found on “Jersey Shore,” “Jerseylicious,” and any other reality T.V. Show. The viewer ends up taking in this lack of focus and concentration and making it their own personality trait. Not only that, but people's minds seem to wonder off more often than perhaps in the past. A person is more likely to stare at a person walking by than look at the person they are talking to. It seems like the world is just not paying attention.

            It is a new culture we are living in. This culture is the ADD culture. This is the era where kids can't pay attention and focus on their homework; the time where kids can't focus on anything but video-games and it is the video-games and computers that have caused this so called “ADD Culture.” Children all the way to young adults play so many video-games or use so much technology that nothing but those items can hold their attention. A child does not listen to a parent when playing a video-game nor does he or she want to get up during one. Doing any other activity during a video-game or work on a computer makes one lose a game or die in a video-game or lose track of their progress and work on a computer. This is the era and the culture where many dinners are actually eaten in front of a T.V. or on a computer. This is thus, the “alone culture.”

            When a man or a woman goes on several dates with each other and get comfortable with each other, one of them is likely to pull out a cell phone and start “texting” during a conversation at dinner when dining out. Yes, it is disrespectful but in this age, people do not realize how disrespectful it is because they are attached to their electronics. Either sex would view it as a sign of boredom while the other may view it as I have to catch up on work or the latest gossip, news etc. However, it can be a sign of both boredom and catching up on things. When we immediately pull out that cell phone, we do not realize how we affect that person and what it says about us and what the other person means to us. This easily accessible electronic scatters out mind because we end up in our own world. We do not listen to what the other person is saying. It is as if we push them aside and do not appreciate what is in front of our eyes; the person with whom you are on a date!

            It just seems like people these days cannot sit still, listen, pay attention, focus, or concentrate on one task at a time. It seems like our minds and attention is always diverted elsewhere. We never question what is so important that is diverting our attention. We just let it happen on a regular basis without a care; as if it is ordinary.

            What makes a culture ADD? I believe when a large group of people (not one here or there) start acting in such a manner that they get bored or distracted easily and have difficult paying attention. ADD consists of poor listening skills, struggling to complete tasks, tendency to overlook details, and zoning out in the middle of a conversation. Not only is our culture ADD but also ADHD, meaning our culture shows classic symptoms of one that is ADHD such as: trouble sitting still or fidgeting all the time, and doing several things at one time. Both of these put together in society or in the masses perhaps makes civilization prone to its own downfall by producing people and offspring that cannot contribute well to society nor survive because of the lack of ability to concentrate and get important tasks done (in order to survive). This is not the case now, however, it cannot be over-looked.

            The trend is increasing and there is nothing being done to decrease this problem because society does not realize that this is even a problem. All, I have done is make the readers aware of the problem but it is up to the audience to spread the word and stop this “ADD culture” madness through awareness and word of mouth. All-in-all, we live in an “ADD culture,” where people cannot pay attention, concentrate or focus on much of anything because of technology and something must be done about the situation before it is too late.