While reading through the article by Richard Restak called “Attention Deficit: The Brain Syndrome of Our Era” in the book Emerging, it was evident to me that he and Sam Anderson who wrote “In Defense of Distraction” that they had correlating ideas and thoughts. Anderson talked about the drugs that were and are being used to treat people with attention deficit disorders, stating that “… and pump it up to superhuman levels with drugs originally intended to treat Alzheimers and narcolepsy. Restak similarly listed the traits that could be seen when a person is diagnosed for having ADHD or ADD. Both Restak and Anderson touched upon how certain drugs, that are known to be stimulants – are commonly used to help focus. Anderson stated, “it would be like requiring employees to take a few hits of opium throughout the day, then being surprised when it becomes a problem”. Similarly, Restak stated “…with their accelerated movement, aunt the change in dug use at the time from sedating agents like opium to the newly synthesized cocaine…”.
Anderson and Restak had similar standpoints in saying that because of technology, our world is becoming more of a distracting place to be a part of and that we are losing our focus. Both authors also stated that through multitasking, we are not giving our full attention to all but to only one task. Authors Anderson and Restak both had compelling information that supported their arguments that the world as we know it is changing.
Nice connections, Carolyn! I like that you pulled specific evidence to better show the connections you are beginning to see between the two texts. Hopefully you will be able to fit these quotes into your draft somewhere. Seeing as your paragraph on drugs/medications is pretty hefty, maybe you could look deeper into that subtopic. Perhaps you could look into using the implications of drug/medication use/abuse to help you argue either for or or against the benefits of a digitally distracting world.
Nice connections, Carolyn! I like that you pulled specific evidence to better show the connections you are beginning to make between the two texts. Hopefully you will be able to fit these quotes into your draft somewhere.
Seeing as your paragraph on drugs/medications is pretty hefty, maybe you could look deeper into that subtopic. Perhaps you could analyze the possible individual and/or societal implications of medication use as a means to focus in our tech driven society. You could then use the ideas you generate to either support or negate the benefits of a digitally distracting world.