Hmmm, has the relentless pace of the information age put our brains on a crash course with information overload?
Advertisers seem to think so. Not so long ago the 60 minute commercial was the standard. It got kicked by the wayside by the 30 minute commercial because we weren’t willing or able to pay attention that long. Now I hear that the 15 second spot is becoming the norm.
It’s more than a little disconcerting to think that our attention span has eroded to that degree. But the evidence is mounting. We’ve all heard of Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). It’s a genetically transmitted brain trait which seems to be reaching epidemic levels.
But a U.S. psychiatrist has now put forward a condition called Attention Deficit Trait (ADT). He calls it “A severe case of modern life”. It happens when the brain becomes bombarded with more information, obligations and data points than it can tolerate. The result, apparently, is distractibility, impulsivity, impatience, restlessness and irritability.
Confession time: Been there, done that! By nature I’m a reasonably patient person. But it seems I’ve used up my quota and then some. A few places where this impatience and irritability manifests itself:
Surfing the web: I expect web pages to load instantly. When they don’t I have been known to curse out my computer quite vehemently as if it has a personal vendetta against me. And don’t get my started on this irritating error messages when a site won’t load!
Waiting in line-ups: At the grocery store check-out counter, ATMs, traffic jams, even Tim Hortons. A tiny devil of impatience sits on my shoulder and whispers nasty things in my ear even though I’m not running late for anything.
E-mail messages: I can’t ignore the damn things. There is a constant stream of them at work. Every one is like an itch I have to scratch to make it go away even though I know another one will arrive in a few minutes.
The treadmill of modern life speeds up a little bit more each day. In true ‘survival of the fittest’ fashion, we keep cranking up our brain RPMs to keep pace so we don’t get thrown off and left behind.
I hereby dub this modern phenomenon the 15 second metaphor. We keep squeezing our attention down into smaller and smaller increments to compensate for our overheated brains.
Is there a solution to this 21st century dilemma? What if, for one hour a week, everyone – and I mean everyone around the world – were to power down their computer, shut off the TV and radio AND resist the temptation to make a phone call. Take a brain holiday. I think it’s worth a try. Are you with me?
~ Michael Robert Dyet is the author of “Until the Deep Water Stills – An Internet-enhanced Novel” – double winner in the Reader Views Literary Awards 2009. Visit Michael’s website at www.mdyetmetaphor.com or the novel online companion at www.mdyetmetaphor.com/blog.
~ Subscribe to “Michael’s Metaphors of Life Journal aka Things That Make Me Go Hmmm” at its’ internet home www.mdyetmetaphor.com/blog2. Instructions for subscribing are provided in the “Subscribe to this Blog: How To” instructions page in the right sidebar. If you’re reading this post on another social networking site, come back regularly to my page for postings once a week.
Tags: ADD · brain · e-mail · metaphor · Michael Robert Dyet · patienceNo Comments