Essay On Attention Span

In “Attention Deficit: The Brain Syndrome of Our Era,” Richard Restak considers the effect of technology on our brains. As we process increasing amounts of information at ever-faster speeds, Restak argues that our brains are undergoing “profound alterations” in order to adapt to the changing needs of our modern world. As technology connects us to more people, places, and information than ever before, Restak warns that we are losing important cognitive functions, in particular our ability to focus and concentrate. However Restak fails to mention that technology has created significant affordances as well. Allowing society to advance as a whole, via social media, e-mail, cell phones, and other various communications. Technology is reshaping our habits of mind.Yes technology created a slight defect to the mind but many advantages came about using technology as an asset.

There are many celebrities who struggle with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Justin Timberlake, Karina Smirnoff, Will Smith, Michael Phelps, Ty Pennington, Paris Hilton, Howie Mandel, and Bruce Jenner are among the eleven percent of Americans diagnosed with ADHD. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common disorders found in children, but it is sometimes found in adults too. ADHD is a problem of not being able to focus, being overactive, having uncontrollable behavior, or a combination of both of these.

A brain-scanning study at the University of California-Los Angeles showed that the repeated exposure to technology alters the brain’s circuitry, creating a gap between the younger digital native generation and the older digital immigrant generation. The brain is very malleable, able to be changed with the media it consumes. The result is that people’s brains are adapting to social networking and a multitasking culture (Small). Also, I can see this effect in my own experiences as a student. There are many times where, in order to properly study, I have to put my computer and smartphone completely out of sight; otherwise, they will be a distraction to what I need to really concentrate on.

Looking to the past for help understanding the children of today is no longer a useful tool. As technology advances, it begins to play a bigger role in the lives and development of children. Technology’s impact on the families of today is breaking down the core values that held them together. These advances affect the attention span of children, their social skills, and their brain development. In the 21st century, technology has become the focal point of society. More advances have been made in this day and age than any other, and while some of them have changed the world for the better, not every effect has been a positive one.

The author addresses the undeniable issues of society’s constant connection to technology. The brain can develop imbalances, for example, deficits in ability to concentrate, short attention, memory span, and emotional disturbances, such as depression (Gwinn

When we walked into the 21century, technology has not only become an important part of our daily life, it has been advanced at a rate we could never imagined. Technology broadens our horizon and shows us so many aspects of the world. However, the more advanced technology becomes, the more we lose our ability to care for others, which is a significant part of our humanity. We use machines a lot more in our daily life instead of ourselves. Due to this, the open world makes it more difficult to concentrate and focus on ourselves , others and our environment. In “Attention Deficit: The Brain Syndrome of Our Era”, Richard believes that modern technology makes us less attentive and hard to concentrate on one thing. The development of technology does bring us convenience and let communication become easier and faster, while we become too rely on our technology and use them to store our memories, communicating and so on. In “We Are a Camera”, Nick claims that we are more likely to use electronic products to record our memories instead of our own brain.Technology could make people become too lazy to memorize or talk to each other face to face. The development of technology lets us become more connected to the whole world, however, we also spend less time with our close friends and family. We are losing our humanity because we rely on technology more than ourselves, this is shown evident through cognitive attempts at multi-tasking which is to follow society’s fast speed and focus

Today, you can see multiple people walking down the street with their heads buried in their phones tweeting about an event that just occurred or sending a quick text message to a friend. The technology and social media is just one of the many reasons why our society has a hard time maintaining attention. Mr. Schwartz had many respectable opinions in the article “Attention Lessons: A Need We Must Heed”. Within the article, I found many points of Mr. Schwartz’s argument that I agreed with, yet a couple of points and the solution that was presented I disagreed with. I believe society is driven by social media and a person needs focus to accomplish tasks, however, I disagree that maintaining attention is a skill and that children can be taught

Whether or not society recognizes it, there is a gravitational pull amongst all, towards technology. Within that pull, lies the loss of an ability to focus and to connect with one another. People of all generations have become accustomed to reaching towards our phones over enjoying face to face communication. And it’s all coming at a cost. In Focus, by Daniel Goleman, Goleman examines the correlation—and causation— of technology and the effects it has on the human brain. Those effects ranging from losing certain traits and abilities: focus, relationships, learning, and communication.

In other words, the world we live in has many distractions.When I was a kid I didn’t have a laptop or even a phone so I was always focused and got good grades. However nowadays kids are so attached to their phone to the point that they don’t talk to their family during dinner anymore or even don’t do their homework because they spend too much time checking social media and playing video

In contrast, technology at times may be damaging. In the reading, “Attention Deficit: The Brain Syndrome of our Era” by Richard Restak, he says

Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) is a common childhood behavioral disorder, but it can be difficult to diagnose and even more hard to understand. What needs to be done to help the child who has ADD, how to deal with this disorder? There are a number of ADD therapies involving usage of chemicals such as Ritalin and others. The recent researches found that the effect of such chemicals as Ritalin and others on the brain of the child is devastating and damages the normal functioning of the brain and especially interferes with the creative abilities. This paper will analyze what is ADD, cause of its appearance, evidence to prove the negative effects of chemical treatment and provide some alternative therapies to treat ADD without negative

Technology has helped humanity in almost every aspect of everyday life. It has made life so much easier that it has become almost impossible to live without. In Dr. Richard Restaks “Attention Deficit: The Brain Syndrome of Our Era”, and Alexandra Samuels “Plug In Better’: A Manifesto” they both go into detail on how technology has affected today’s society, and how it has changed human behavior to rely on it to such a degree that people have become addicted to technology as if they need it for their very survival. Both Restak and Samuel talk about how technology has made humanity more connected to each other and yet has also disconnected each other at the same time and to the real world. People use technology so much in their everyday lives to solve problems and to carry out tasks that they no longer control its effects on them, whereas before people had to rely on their own individual talents, skills, and efforts to get tasks completed. Gene therapy and other cutting edge medical techniques like all technology, has incredible life changing potential as well as possible side effects

First of all, technology is making it very hard to focus and sustain attention. When discussing the article, Matt explains that “kids in front of screens... brains are going to be wired differently ”(par.7).

Descriptions of ADHD symptoms have been stable since the mid-19th century. Even as early as 1863, the public's view of the disorder started to emerge in a poem by a German physicist which depicted 'Fidgety Phil's' classic sign's of ADHD (6). In 1902, experts classified children suffering form ADHD as mentally retarded, socially inept or even emotionally disturbed. It wasn?t until the 1940?s that experts classified it as a neurological disorder. Its discovery actually occurred in 1937(6). Dr. Bradley of Providence, Rhode Island discovered that while treating severely destructive children using amphetamines, a stimulant, the children would become more tranquil and could

To elaborate, technology has caused us to have a shorter attention span. The common ringing of a phone can distract someone from their work. In the video “What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains” by Epipheo, states we lose control of attention and we don’t enjoy consolidation.This proves that students’ attention can be lost because of a simple text message, or something they saw on social media earlier. Some may argue, it is average to check a social media website and text. However, constantly doing this can cause compulsive behavior.