Monday, January 12, 2015

An epidemic of Alzheimer's and Attention Deficit Disorder

I know virtually nothing about Alheimer's disease other than it affects the memory. I know nothing concerning the causes of it, so I am speaking here only in generalities.

My grandchildren's generation will be the first to have been raised from birth with portable electronic devices pervading their environment. One of the main consequences of electronics is that it keeps us from having to think. We do not have to exercise our brains. Also, by the constantly-changing stimuli it produces, it reduces our attention span to virtually nothing.

What is the effect upon a mind when electronics relieves it during its entire life of having to think? What is the effect of the visual stimuli never allowing the mind to rest upon any one object for more than a few seconds? What will society be like when we deliberately have trained ourselves not to memorize anything?

When people are immersed in that environment for the entirely of their lives, it seems logical to me that we will have an epidemic of memory loss and attention deficit disorder. And even worse, what will be the effect upon our souls when we never have those quiet periods of meditation and contemplation that are completely without outside stimuli, so that our brain can exercise itself on sublime things?

I will be dead soon with only the latter portion of my life cursed by electronics and the internet, but you younger folks will have allowed your minds to atrophy unless you make a concerted effort to prevent that.

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