on Attention Deficit Disorder

Ok, the last post was just published, but I figured i'd give y'all a double whammy. To be fair, it took me some time to finish the last one, since its a tough topic to write about...

Ah, ADD. This is a funny one for me, because I have never been diagnosed with ADD. However, I can definitely tell you I have ADD. How do I know? Well, at this very moment, I am carrying on 4 IM conversations, reading e-mails, listening to the new Coldplay Album. I cannot fall asleep without the TV on, even if its the same Seinfeld episode I watched last night. I physically cannot handle sitting still for much time at all (I hate sitting on the beach, or sitting in "the park" for this exact reason). I don't have a blackberry anymore, but it would be nearly impossible for many of my colleagues to know, since I have a serious level of internet addiction (when you click Send/Receive within Microsoft Outlook, even when its set to check every minute, you know you have a problem). I subscribe (RSS Feed) to over 25 blogs, of which I respond/comment regularly on 5. I like being busy, to a fault.

Is this a bad thing? Most scientists and nearly every professor at INSEAD thinks so... One professor even suggested that we are much more likely to suffer from stress-induced heart-attacks than our parents - hence the new workout routine. Its a scary world we live in, where information is at our fingertips and overload is inevitable. I find those random moments, when I do not have access to the internet or my phone (for example, when my home, in Montigny Sur Loing, internet goes down, I am out of communication options, since there is no reception in the forest) to be at first quite anxiety driven, then often calming. There is nothing like reading a book in an obscure old house outside Fontainbleau, France, to soothe the mind and keep sanity in this hyper-stressful world.

One interesting thought comes to mind. When I was in high school, when you dated a girl, you spoke over the phone and went out on dates. Today, there are new parts that have been adding to the complexity of dating, namely "Facebook profiles", "Web Blogs", text messaging and IM chats, to name a few. Do you have your girfriend listed as such on Facebook? Did you write about something you two did or experienced together on your blog? Is she at her computer and deliberately not IMing me? This makes the entire process all the more intense and stressful, as communication frequency is artificially increased and made more complex.

The same is true in work, where a blackberry puts nearly everyone "on call" 24 hrs/day anywhere around the globe. You can no longer hide, relax and take it easy, while still feeling in relative control of your life. Its a bit of a sad existence.

I am not sure how or when, but at some point I will give up on needing to know everything at all times. The human mind cannot take it all in, and is likely to get confused more often in this new world. We'll all eventually need to slow down. Simplicity in this complex world seems to be valued greatly. No longer are the coolest hi-tech gadgets valued on their complexity alone, but on their simplicity in operation, and how they eliminate our clutter-filled lives. Hence, the iPhone excited folks who can now get rid of 2+ devices (phone, iPod, camera, PDA) and replace it with one simple gadget.

Needless to say, we live in a world where everyone has (some form of) ADD, and the "here and now" is more critical than ever. Classes and lectures will likely need to be scaled down and focused on key soundbites. The media will continue to share more sucinct news segments that can keep our attention. And our friends in the ad business will need to work even harder to keep our minds on Coca Cola and Budweiser... Welcome to the new world...