Attention Deficit: The Brain Syndrome Of Our Era

The human brain is a complex and interesting organ that we still do not know everything about. In the essay “Attention Deficit: the Brain Syndrome of Our Era,” the author Richard Restak talks about how our brains have changed in the way we see and respond to everything around us because of technology. Our brains have had to adapt to the different changes and the speed at which technology has advanced. Yet many argue these changes have not been for the better while others say that these changes will only benefit us. The change in the way the brain functions that he discusses, I think, are for the better of a person because advancements in technology is the way of the future and all of these changes will be for the better in the future.

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issue that has had a lot of people talking is that of the subject of ADD and ADHD. In his article, Richard Restak explains how his research shows that ADHD and ADD are not a mental condition, but a new state of perception. The brain attempts to deal with big amounts of information that is given to us through technology, yet it is overwhelmed because of it all. This causes the brain to develop differently in order to understand everything that humans expose themselves to. This leads to an ability that humans have gained which is multitasking; a mechanism humans have developed in response to suddenly having a higher amount of distractions in comparison to just a few before. Technology has solved many of the problems that have overwhelmed humans for many years, but some would argue that this comes at a cost.
Technology has changed a lot in recent years and has changed the way we as humans interact with each other and also affects the way we live our every day lives.

Technological advances though have been moving fast and some people would argue that it is too much for our brains to handle. As Restak states in his essay,” This technologically driven change in the brain is the biggest modification in the last 200,000 years (when the brain volume of Homo sapiens reached the modern level).” Our brains are experiencing a change in how it functions, and this last quote by Restak shows just how different the human brain has became since our last change in evolution. One of the changes that are forced on our brain is that of multitasking and when we are faced with the ability to focus our attention. Restak shows an example in a situation where there are crawlers at the bottom of a television screen. He comments how he could not keep focus on what he was watching and kept on looking at the words that were at the bottom of the screen because they were made to catch your attention. Another example is that of split screen interviews, which makes us divide our visual attention. With all of this we have become more high strung and our brains function have changed for the better. Restak would call this as us being more hyperactive, where we are now more frenetic, more distracted, and more fragmented. Yet all of this would be for the better for our species. The technology is only going the

get better and it going to happen faster so our brains need to adapt to the changes that are occurring in the world around us.
Speed of almost everything has become a big part of our lives.

In response to how fast everything around us, our brain has had to adapt. In his essay, Restak says, “we can be at two places at one time.” For example, you can be talking to someone in person but texting someone else at the same time. Technology has made it possible for us to contact someone in the other side of the world without having to be there in person. This makes us immediately available in more than one place at a time. Yet all of this has to do with our ability to what we call multitasking. Multitasking is something everyone does every day whether they realize it or not. As I said before, when you are talking to a friend and texting someone else at the same time you are multitasking. This is just another example of a way the human brain has had to adapt. Yet this also may not be as efficient as many people would think. In his essay, Restak supports this when he writes, “When you are multitasking your attention at any given moment is directed more towards one of the activates that you are doing rather than both at the same time. Your frontal lobes (which are the main control centers toward the front of your brain) must shift goals and activate new rules of operation. You also encourage different sensory experiences, which makes it harder and takes even longer to get one thing done.” Our brains are designed to work more efficiently when it works on a single task. Until very recently our minds have had to

adapt to the changing world around us. When you do not even notice it you can catch yourself multitasking. While multitasking may not be the most efficient way for our brains to work, with time our brains will adapt to be able to multitask for efficiently.
The technologies that are changing our brain function I believe are a necessary component of modern life. Things like the Internet and cell phones have really changed the way we live our lives. We can interact with someone across the country in a matter of seconds. And now that we have things like skype and FaceTime, we can see that person and can connect to them as easily as making a phone call. Technology is only going to get better and we are going to have to adapt to the changes that come in the future, either way technology is going to have to a necessary component of modern life.