On the Media

I wrote this for a school assignment but was thinking of making a blog about it anyway. Pam is my instructor who came up with the prompt. The prompt was to describe a way in which the media has changed your life. Enjoy!

I wonder sometimes if Pam and I don’t share the same brainwaves, because I was driving in my car the other day thinking about this very subject. Not only has the media changed my life, I think that media is changing the way our brains evolve.

Think about it. What’s the new watchword for parenting, besides autism? ADHD. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. When I was growing up, I never would have said that I have ADHD. Now that I am an adult, I’m pretty certain I’ve developed it. I have a hard time finding focus, especially in my creative endeavors. I am the proverbial plate spinner. I work on one thing for a while, then move on to another. Not only in writing, but in different mediums. I get tired of writing and make a collage. I get tired of collaging and decide I’m going to learn to sew. Things like that.

At work, also. I’ll start one cleaning project, get tired of it halfway through, and start something new. Something New. I would say my entire work ethic revolves around finding Something New.

Istn’t that the very definition of ADHD? Someone who can not focus on one task for long periods of time? Let me do a Google check. Yep. Also included in the definition are a tendency to procrastinate, to not listen when spoken to directly, and excessive daydreaming. I definitely have ADHD. I would say, however, that I am just a writer. Most of us have ADHD, it would seem.

My theory, however (and for what it’s worth), is not that ADHD is a cognitive disorder, it’s cultural evolution. Who can pay attention in this day and age? With the onset of 24-hour cable networks, smartphones, and digital communication, there is always something to occupy, nay, entertain the mind. There is no reason not to be entertained these days. Unless, of course, you have a job. Or schoolwork. And who wants to do those things when you could be surfing the web learning things they don’t teach you in school or texting your friends about what they’re doing right now?

I think that the prevalence of the diagnosis of ADHD is proof of how ill-equipped our society is to accept cultural change. Teaching styles must be adjusted to accommodate this new rise of ever-prevalent media. Teachers must entertain now instead of merely instruct. I believe that this is happening, but not fast enough.

No, it’s so much easier to give kids diluted meth in an attempt to medicate the problem away. But the problem isn’t a problem. It’s just change. It’s evolution. I do not wish to quantify this change into the realms of “good” or “bad,” either. It is neither. It is simply happening.

We’re in a time of transition as a culture, and someday psychologists will laugh at us for thinking that we could “solve” the problem of ADHD. Or that we considered it a problem. I consider it an evolutionary key that will turn the gears of change. Our institutions must change to accommodate a new world, a new attention span, a new way of thinking, even. Not the other way around: developing dangerous chemicals to infuse our children with so that institutions may stay the same.

In the immortal and always relevant words of Bob Dylan: the times they are a’changin’. And we are changing with them. Myself firmly included.