From The “DUH” Department
I have ADHD and I was the BULLIED-rather than the BULLY.
While I watched plenty of TV-even as a young-un I was the consumate outdoors woman.
I think that ADHD has to to do more with how your’wired’ than something as simple as too much TV.
That best explains my case anyway.Posted by Annoying Little Twerp
04/06/2005 at 05:46 AM
This only makes sense. Young minds can only process so fast and the TV medium is too fast. Marshall McLuhan had it right - TV is a cold media, it takes no brain power to process, everything is provided. Kids need ‘warm’ experiences, that is why the repetitive reading of a favorite book feeds their inner heart.
This observation about the connection betweeen ADD and TV is right on point. Notice the rise in ADD as TV becomes more and more a part of our lives.
Now, there are those who will diagree with my thesis about ADD and TV being linked, and these people will say “oh, we have better ways of DIAGNOSING it now” and I don’t totally disagree. The thing is, although there IS DEFINITELY more cases of ADD these days, it is still a fact that it’s WAYYYYY overdiagnosed. Many problems can masquerade as ADD, such as depression and anxiety, which are MUCH more common in kids (especially today, with all the violence they watch on TV).
Amphetamines and Ritalin are POISON that should not be given to children except in the most sever cases of debilitating ADD, which are encountered in the general population, just nowhere near the 10-25% you will hear if you listen to your local social workers.
I think the real problem is lack of motivation that causes what we see as “ADD” being “recognized” in kids. Couch-potatoism.
"the rise of ADD as TV becomes more part of our lives” - what I meant was the rise HISTORICALLY, not during the course of one’s life.
I think if you massaged the data correctly, you’d be able to (not necessarily you OCM, just a figure of speech) show that pot improves concentration - as a matter of fact I’m apt to believe that it does in some people.
BTW, we should legalize it and turn our attention to the REALLY bad shit out there, like coke, heroin and methamphetamine, which incedentally is one of the drugs (and its slightly tamer sibling dextroamphetamine) used to treat, yes you guessed it, ADD!
jus’ ma’ too sens’ werf’
I agree that TV is a cause of ADHD (never thought I would see myself type that!). Of course, diagnosing it as a medical disorder is a whole other matter. It is really a matter of kids acting out when they are bored. We have instant gratification in all things a kid could want - providing the parents give it to them. And a lot do apparently. They never have to deal with having to savor something, or having to wait for something good. Hell, they rarely have to deal with something they don’t like. So when they go to school and math is being taught, the kid is bored, and having no patience acts out.
This is “treated” by turning kids into zombies. This is such a problem that kids might be turning to Phil Collins for music when under the influence of things like Riddlin! (ztucka might be able to catch that reference...)
How do these drugs improve concentration? I don’t think they do. They just turn kids into good little vegetables so the teacher won’t have to deal with it.
I think the operative letter is “H” in “ADHD.” No deficit in attention - watch a kid play a video game sometime. They have no problems with concentration and paying attentnion to THAT!
Now ADD (without the “H") may be a problem. I could see how that might affect people. The commercial for the adult ADD medicine was pretty telling - and that was me! (I don’t mean literally; but you get it.) I never thought of it before paying attention to that commercial (that is what they are meant for after all). Reason is: I never was like the kids who were diagnosed with ADD and were on medication. I was well-behaved and have always gotten superb grades. I just couldn’t hold my attention to anything more than a few minutes, including when people are talking to me; nor could I remember simple little things (like where I put something I just put down). But I was more successful in many things than most of my peers. I just don’t see why it is a disorder to be treated with drugs. I got along just fine without them.
OK, I’m gonna stir the pot: I think ADD is 99% BULLSHIT!!! Not a jab at you Barb; I understand some people have more trouble focussing than others. I just have a problem with the medical community giving everything a name. FFS, it seems that if more than 2 people share a common “problem” they have to give it disease status and a name. That makes it easier to get funding for a study or a contract with a pharmaceutical company to develop a “cure.” Remember, disease maintenance is big$$$$$$$.
I do agree, however, about TV editing practices. The quick edit that Vilmar spoke of got really popular for the most part with the advent of MTV, and it had gotten so bad (the music, too) that by the mid 90’s I could no longer suffer through a video. That quick edit doesn’t allow the mind to focus, but it is a great tool for brainwashing (anybody remember A Clockwork Orange and the re-education scenes?)
Now having said that, I have personally known ONE person in 40 years who was what we used to call HYPERACTIVE. His name was Billy Aubrey. In 3rd grade, this kid would just start literally bouncing off the walls, jumping up and down on the desks, etc. He got a ritalin pill at lunch every day. The only thing that seemed to work with this kid was “Mrs. R” telling him to go run around the playground until he got tired - he would come back after about 45 minutes, dripping with sweat and relatively calm. Am I to believe that there is now an epidemic of Billy Aubreys in America? Or is the standard for qualifying as ADD/HD just lower now?
Question: If ritalin is a type of speed, why is it given to kids who are hyperactive
? Wouldn’t a downer like a quaalude or valium be more in order 
?
Also, how did hyperactive get associated with ADD?
Wake up, fellow Americans!!! As a society we are OVER-MEDICATED and UNDER-NOURISHED, and spend WAY TOO MUCH TIME (and $$$) WITH DOCTORS!!!
OCM, I agree completely. We have a bit of common ground on this one…
I will address the comment “if you’ve done much pot smoking” yes I have done much pot smoking. The last time I did that was in 1997, though. I don’t want to go into it any further. Suffice it to say that I never touch the stuff or alcohol to this day.
You could say that I’ve undergone a complete psychic change and no longer require or am interested in such things…
Hells Bells...My three children were all diagnosed as hyperactive, however, I did not resort to the use of medication. What I did was gave them options: for every action there is a reaction..give me a negative, I will give you one back. I found that these active children only needed more input, balanced diet and activities that stimulated them to acheive a calm nature.
Like INC I personally have only seen 1 true case of what I would call ADHD in my life time.
04/06/2005 at 04:33 PM
