Generation A.D.D.

My dad was born in 1948. Actually, there was quite a lot of people born during this era. This was period in history is famously called "The Baby Boom". This was probably the highest rate of births in American history. Apparently after World War II ended, soldiers had to catch up on all the fuckin' they missed while they were off killing Nazis.


Fast-forward a few years, and the 1960s roll around. The younger generation saw there parents as "square" and did whatever possible to not live their lives like the generation before them. This is where people decided to take drugs, the birth control pill was invented so some real fuckin' took place, and everyone Tuned In, Turned On & Dropped Out. This rebellion lasted all through the 70's and into the early 80s. This rebellious era is commonly referred to as Generation X.


I was born in 1980 (most of my friends were born around the same time). I guess because it was the next letter in the alphabet, but my generation was christened Generation Y. Why? How the fuck should I know! If I knew the real answer, I'd probably be getting paid for writing bullshit like this! Anyway, my generation seems obsessed with staying young. On average, we are getting married later in life, having kids later, and even living with mom and dad longer. Some of us are still obsessed with things from our childhood like Nintendo & Transformers...or maybe that's just me :)


Anyway, the common theme with the Baby Boomers, Gen X & Gen Y, is that they are all doing their best to not be like the era before them and they are stuck in their own ways. The Baby Boomers look down on Gen X the same way Gen X looks down on Gen Y.



Which leads me to this generation of kids. Would they be called Generation Z ? No because that's less creative than calling my era Generation Y. So since somebody has to be creative, I will call this generation: Generation A.D.D. There's a few reasons for this. The biggest one is I keep hearing of a lot of kids having Attention Deficit Disorder. Did this condition just show up one day with no explanation or are doctors just recognizing and diagnosing it more? The same thing can be said for Autism, but thats a blog for another day. Maybe kids just aren't interested in what older people have to say. Maybe we can't admit that we as Gen Y or older are just boring.


As in all those that came before them, this generation is trying to be as far removed from their parents as possible. What I find the most unique about Generation A.D.D. is that EVERYBODY from previous generations are trying to be like them! Don't believe me? How many text messages do you send per day versus how many phone calls you make? More specifically, when did one of your friends try calling you, you don't answer, then write them a 100 word text in response? How many people around age 30 are obsessed with the Twilight Saga?


The biggest culprit for us all having A.D.D. is no doubt: technology. Because of technology, we ALL have A.D.D. of some sort. No, that is not my general stereotype; YOU have A.D.D!!! That's the gospel according to Franky. What's ironic is that we're such slaves to technology that no matter how advanced our technology is, we need it faster. Have you ever been on YouTube and were waiting for a video to load up, just so you could see that kitten attack his shadow? Remember when we all had 56K modems and had to get our Internet through the phone and how long that would take today?


I also think its strange that technology is supposed to make communication easier, but yet we hardly communicate; at least in person. I was bartending last night for a private event that had around 100 people.

No matter where you looked or how many people were in the group, SOMEBODY (usually more than one person) was using their phone. There were a few guys obviously hitting on women, and yet they were both on their phones. And yet, I'm still sure that dude got laid! How often to you avoid face-to-face communication only to stick with text, Instant Messaging, email, Facebook, etc? Ever notice how sarcasm and the tonality of your voice doesn't translate well over there mediums? How much drama or fights between close friends and family gets started this way?


But just saying technology is the root of all evil and the reason for our A.D.D. is an unfair stereotype. Granted, technology has truly made our lives better and easier. Think of all the advancements the car industry has made to improve gas milage and driver safety. Or how email is so much better than writing a letter and spending 40 cents to send it the old fashioned way. And that whole Internet thing is pretty neato too!


To narrow it down, I blame three specific things for the reason why we all have A.D.D.


1). CNN
When 9/11 happened, we were all glued to CNN. We wanted to know every bit of information we could get our hands on. What happened, who did it, why they did it, how many died, who died, what the next step was, what the President was going to do (after his vacation), etc. Because we were desperate for information, this was the first time that I noticed that scroll across the bottom of the screen on CNN. This was new. While the news anchor was talking and we were watching the news like we always did, there was this text of other news stories across the bottom of the screen. The most important things would be scrolling like info on Osama bin Laden, the clean-up efforts, charity work, and other 9/11 related stories. Then there would be other news stories, the weather, the stock market, etc. As months went by, CNN decided to keep the scroll. You would now and forever be able to hear a reporter talk about one story while reading about an unrelated one at the same time. Two news stories going on simultaneously. Now every news program and channel from here to Timfuckjew would have the scrolling text on the bottom of the screen. ESPN took it even one step further by having the main story, the scroll on the bottom, and now on the side of the screen you could see the upcoming stories that would be discussed next. That's right...THREE different news stories at once! As technology advanced, now we have the main story in the center, the scroll on the bottom, a small weather icon, the Dow number, what time it is, sports scores...AND YOU WONDER WHY WE ALL HAVE A.D.D?!?!


2). The iPhone (and the rip-offs its spawned)
I love my Droid phone, but I am man enough to say that it is an iPhone rip-off (a damn good one at that). I want to conduct a little exercise with whoever is reading this; so just play along. Here's what I want you to imagine. Pretend you had a time machine; again, just play along! So you've got your time machine, and you were going to travel back 15 years. Got it? OK, so it's 1995 again. Sorry, but you're stuck listening to Hootie & The Blowfish & The Cranberries and Boston sports team suck balls again. Anyway, now you're going go to talk to your younger self. Here's what I want you to do: try explaining the iPhone to them. The Internet was new to a lot of us then (I didn't even know what the fuck it was at the time), so was Email, and most people thought cellular telephones were an $8/minute fad. Now from the palm of your hand you can communicate with anyone on the planet, communicate with multiple people at the same time, visit websites across the globe, check your stock portfolio, pay bills, buy shit, listen to music, watch videos/movies/porn, find directions to various locations, play games, and waste time. I know its hard to envision because we have it right now. But think about explaining that to yourself 15 years ago!! That's like some real Star Trek shit!



3). Facebook
I know, it sounds contradictory coming from me since I waste more time on FB than I'd like to openly admit. We are so wrapped around technology's finger and full of ourselves, that we actually think that people give a shit about what we're doing! Think of how many social situations like parites, night outs, gatherings, etc where you see people (or yourself) updating their Facebook status...or emailing someone on Facebook...or writing on somebody's wall on Facebook...or uploading pictures from your night out on Facebook...can you say OBSESSION?!?! Facebook is Internet Crack! Twitter is worse and MySpace is tacky, but Facebook is the real giant of the social networking obsession.


Sadly, this is only going to get worse. As technology advances, we're going to become more obsessed with it, want it faster, probably avoid face-to-face conversation all together, and lose the ability to do one thing at a time. This isn't multi-tasking, this is our inability to focus on one task at a time; the medical textbook definition of A.D.D. The weird thing is, we're all OK with this. After all, technology does make our lives easier and better...doesn't it?