The ADHD generation

How can anyone today be expected to write when they don't read – well, not proper reading? Have a look at anyone in your office aged 40 or younger – the 20s set in particular. What are they doing with every spare second?



I'll tell you what they're doing. They're either thumbing away on their mobile or on their laptop, connected to Facebook or other networking sites. That's writing, you say. But is it?

If it's Twitter, then it's hard to call 140-character messages writing and if it's Facebook – "went to cool gig last night. Had blast, got slammed" - hello!

When they finish work for the day they may meet friends, and while chatting and drinking, they're still thumbing and checking their messages, seeing if anyone's desperate to share their day's news with them – perhaps "went to dentist, sh*t day"...

From here, they'll either go home to eat or eat out, still checking out the phone. When they're home they cook – eat takeaways, possibly checking out the TV, while phone and laptop are close by. They may catch a movie on their laptop, of course, and then they crawl into bed – with a good book? Don't be ridiculous; they're too exhausted from all that networking...

Perhaps the worst-hit group to be affected by the messaging malaise is the really younger set – and here I mean children from three years upwards, especially teens who are permanently glued to their phones. Apart from the fact that there is no such thing as spelling when u r txtng, they never experience the pleasure of sitting down 'quietly' with no distractions, other than a good book and possibly good music playing in the background.

This has become a real issue with many businessmen worldwide, who are putting aside time, even up to a day a week, when they turn off their laptops, phones and any way of reaching them to simply have 'quiet time' when they can catch up on business reading and leisure reading. When there's no 'noise' around them. Companies such as IBM and Deloitte & Touche actually put time limits on email use and even ban email on certain days. They have 'no-technology days', where employees clean their work space and tidy up paperwork.

Research from Harvard Business School showed that engineers at a high-tech software company were interrupted so often they had to work nights and weekends to catch up. Why? Bombardment of messages! They introduced four hours of quiet time every morning for these 17 engineers. Apparently, it changed their output.

They've even resorted to putting programmes in place that encourage actual face-to-face contact. Now fancy that – actually going to see someone instead of texting... More companies in South Africa should be doing this.

Recently while running a course, one of the delegates, who works for a vice-chancellor at a top university, told me that although her boss was in the next office to hers he only emails her – never actually talks face to face!

For me, the really sad part is that we'll have whole generations of children who'll never know the pleasure of solving a mystery or wallowing in the sheer beauty of a great writer.