Parents are the most important teachers
Since the advent of the internet age there are markedly new trends we’re seeing as a society and one of those is the ability to multi-task. It goes a little something like this, “he who can multi-task the best finishes first, or last.” We are changing our social patterns with one another through actual physical to digital communication it’s the way things are going. The other night I was out at dinner and I witnessed something very peculiar a couple, ok not them, but their interaction was interesting. It looked like this: They were both texting and who knows what else on their phones while at dinner the entire 56 minutes I was there. I couldn’t believe it! I was mesmerized that they had and I counted an even exchange of 26 words the entire meal (I know I like to watch behaviors I should have added sociology and anthropology as an undergrad). That breaks down to roughly 2.2 words per minute, hardly a few utterances. So I get to thinking, what can be conveyed to a significant other during “together” time when the entire meal is spent texting other people? I trailed off from my original thought on ADHD/ADD or Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder or Attention Deficit Disorders’. Which brings me to my point, I have worked with numerous clients who exhibit the symptoms for both of these “disorders”, and to name a few here are some of the distractions of today’s generations: computers, cell phones, television (tivo, Netflix, DVR’s, HULU, XBOX, PS3) I PAD/IPOD blah blah blah blah the list is endless. With this bombardment of information/entertainment who the hell in their right minds can keep one thought in order? Who can blame kids and teens coming up with this stuff to be any different socially? This culture is breeding these “disorders” and you know what I don’t think it is something to be surprised about or even ashamed about. I believe that they can fuel kids and adults alike to get more done they just need to figure out how to finish whatever they are doing at times is all. Here’s some food for thought: have you ever noticed that Mark Zuckerberg, yes the creator of facebook has arguably a deficiency in “normal” interactions with people around him perhaps comparable to that of a higher functioning rainman; yet he created the largest social network website on the planet? People are pointing out that those who interact solely through facebook are actually adapting some of the very social behaviors that make Zuckerberg an awkward person socially to begin with and when I say awkward I am basing my consensus with the anecdotal reports of those who actually interact with him. Think about it, how many “friends” talk through just facebook nowadays or say, just texting? I can’t help but catch myself during my writing this that I have the TV on as background, am listening to a music video on YouTube and am typing all of these thoughts as they spew out from my bouncing brain.
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