| Over the past quarter century, the numbers of | | | | deserts, and retreats. Libraries, the place |
| those diagnosed with ADHD (Attention-Deficit | | | | for readers and scholars to think, have |
| Hyperactivity Disorder) has increased | | | | always born a funereal hush. Churches and |
| dramatically. More sophisticated diagnostic | | | | mosques are silent caverns, allowing |
| tools and social acceptance of the malady may | | | | individual visitors to concentrate on their |
| be a partial explanation. However, a | | | | prayers. High pressure examinations are |
| consideration of social changes may be a | | | | conducted in total silence. Mental work, such |
| worthwhile exercise in trying to define | | | | as reading, writing, homework, and studying |
| reasons for the widespread growth of this | | | | is performed in a quiet corner or separate |
| condition.In ancient times, say the 1960s, | | | | room.Most of those traditions have long gone. |
| life at home and work bore little resemblance | | | | At the dawn of the Twenty-first Century, we |
| to our current climate. There had been many | | | | find ourselves living in an atmosphere of |
| early electronic advances and zeal for | | | | constant noise and imperative, |
| modernization permeated the workplace where | | | | will-not-be-ignored, stimuli. Our children do |
| slow computers required hundreds of square | | | | their homework - trying to absorb more |
| feet of office space. The invention of | | | | information than prior generations could even |
| correcting-type tape (we thought we'd died | | | | imagine - with the television on, the ipod or |
| and gone to heaven with that one) and the | | | | CD blaring, the cell phone ringing, and the |
| adoption of electric typewriters was a | | | | Internet chat room demanding attention.When |
| revolution to the hordes of clerks and | | | | they are done with their homework, they play |
| secretaries who inhabited thousands of | | | | endless video games. From the simple |
| offices, taking dictation by hand and | | | | skateboard racing of entranced pre-schoolers |
| struggling with the vagaries of purple ink | | | | to the dark violence of adolescent contests, |
| ditto and ugly yellow heat-responsive | | | | they spend much of their time immersed in an |
| thermograph machines. At home, color spread | | | | interactive virtual world that is light years |
| through the vast wasteland of television and | | | | away from the flickering images of the |
| 45 rpm records were replaced by long playing | | | | Saturday afternoon westerns we watched with |
| albums and 8 track tapes. We gloated over | | | | awe, or the few hours of cartoons and sit |
| AM-FM stereo radios in our cars, the music | | | | coms that early television provided.Motor |
| drowning out the clicks of vacuum-powered | | | | vehicles are no longer just another means of |
| windshield wipers.We had absolutely no | | | | transportation. They have become electronics |
| conception of what was to come.The advent of | | | | on wheels with boom boxes, CD players, |
| cassette tapes put the entire educational | | | | subscriber radio networks, and built-in |
| industry of shorthand trainers out of | | | | television monitors and DVDs.Then we wonder |
| business and a coveted skill became virtually | | | | at the explosion in ADHD which results in |
| worthless. The copy machine reduced the need | | | | medications for the condition being among the |
| for grunt office clerks, and receptionists no | | | | most popular prescriptions issued.We are |
| longer plugged in a web of cables to connect | | | | surrounded by adults and children who lack |
| callers. Word processing systems and then | | | | the capacity to concentrate on what they |
| personal computers forever changed the | | | | read, what they see, and what they hear. When |
| routine of typing.At home, we moved from | | | | the brain fails to fully attend to new |
| records to cassettes to CDs to ipods. | | | | information, it lacks the ability to lay down |
| Television wasn't just in color, it was cable | | | | memory traces and the information quickly |
| or dish with 100 more channels to share its | | | | fades away. The result is a loss of millions |
| wasteland. The pong and pac-man games of bars | | | | for corporations who have to keep retraining, |
| and arcades moved into our living rooms in | | | | keep reminding, keep lecturing their |
| ever more advanced and sophisticated forms. | | | | employees on data that is required for their |
| We dipped our toes into the Internet and | | | | job. Customers and contracts are lost because |
| overnight learned to surf like a pro. Not | | | | forgotten information leads to poor customer |
| only did the telephone lose its dial, it | | | | service, death to any business.Personal lives |
| became a copier, then became totally portable | | | | are diminished for those who can't |
| and acquired the ability to take instant | | | | concentrate long enough to finish tasks they |
| pictures, receive text messages, and provide | | | | started with such good intentions. |
| games and instant worldwide access.In the | | | | Interpersonal relationships suffer due to |
| midst of this revolution in electronics, | | | | poor communication skills and the lack of |
| processes, equipment, and communication, was | | | | that personal empathy which requires one to |
| one entity that didn't change: the human | | | | intensively focus on another human being to |
| mind. The flexibility and untapped potential | | | | really understand their feelings.While we |
| of our brains allowed us to invent and | | | | continue to dispense the medications that act |
| implement creations that placed demands on us | | | | to filter the stimuli overload, and use |
| for which we were ill-equipped.Our brains' | | | | psychological modification techniques to mold |
| hardwiring is virtually unchanged from | | | | acceptable social behavior, we also need to |
| prehistoric times. Over the centuries, we | | | | look inside our own homes and practice |
| have learned to cram in more and more | | | | preventive care. Let's limit our children's |
| information without crashing from the | | | | overexposure to the electronic world they |
| overload. We handle the threat of | | | | love. Let's model, and reinforce, the human |
| over-stimulation by filtering the constant | | | | need for quiet time and introspection. Let's |
| sensory bombardment. We acquire habits and | | | | encourage reading, thinking, and family |
| routines that allow us to carry out many of | | | | discussions instead of using electronic |
| our daily activities without having to think | | | | babysitters to allow us the time to get all |
| about what we're doing. When conscious | | | | that unimportant "stuff" done at the expense |
| thought is required, we are most efficient | | | | of our children's future.Our brains will |
| when we attend to one or two things at a | | | | thank us for it and our children will have |
| time. We concentrate on one area in order to | | | | received a gift they will treasure throughout |
| handle the action required competently and | | | | their lives.Virginia Bola is a licensed |
| immediately. We ignore irrelevant materials | | | | clinical psychologist with deep interests in |
| floating around us because they are not our | | | | Social Psychology and politics. She has |
| current focus.Traditionally, we have sought | | | | performed therapeutic services for more than |
| out quiet places for our deep thinking. | | | | 20 years and has studied the effects of |
| Spiritual leaders have performed their | | | | cultural forces and employment on the |
| meditations in silence, in caves, cloisters, | | | | individual. |