Pseudo-ADD
From Expert System: Attention Deficit Disorders (ADD, ADHD)
American society, and to much a lesser extent European societies, often seem to stimulate ADD-like behaviors in individuals.This is the phenomenom of culturally-induced or pseudo-ADD. Any good observer can notice features of our culture and lifestyle that might produce behavior resembling ADD. Consider the following:
The fast pace, the bottom line, the sound bite, the clicking mouse, the TV remote, violence, anxiety, promiscuity, contact sports, competition, loud, music of two and four bar refrains, the stock market, fads and the search for novelty, fast track, fast food, fast cars, plastic surgery, Hollywood, the list seems endless.Add to these examples the pervasive-nearing universal use of mobile phones, iPods, Blackberries, and other hand-held devices leading to increasing multi-tasking, distraction and inability to concentrate. Faced with this list, it is not surprising that we seem to be surrounded and invaded by symptoms and signs of ADD.
Americans are diagnosed more often with attention deficit disorders than Europeans. As Hollowell and Rutin observe in their classic book Driven to Distraction, part of the American gene pool consists possibly of the very qualities of people who settled or emigrated to the New World: The pragmatic bottom line mentality, the neglect of class distinction, the violent, free-wheeling, competitive, creative dynamic. The "must do" society is dissonant, hungry for excitement, insensitive, lacking in repose or intellectual depth. These are all facets of America's 21st Century "human nature."
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