The other night I was driving around with a friend of mine here on the Central California coast, and we passed several SUV-type cars that all had some sort of TV/DVD thing running in the back seat. We couldn't help but notice the obvious. Silence is no longer apparently GOLDEN! In fact, as we began to address this topic, we both admitted that it certainly seems like people in general cannot ever be without noise. What is a bit scary about this revelation of sorts, is that I don't believe it is healthy for anyone to have noise going every waking hour of the day. In addition, I cannot imagine what this is doing to young children and their entire psychological make-up.

For years, I've thought that low-level background noise can actually help concentration. Bart Kosko talks about this notion in his book Noise. There's also recent research suggesting that noise can improve cognitive performance in children with ADHD. Here is what child physiologist Mark Andrews of the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine writes in the new issue of Scientific American Mind that noise can lead to stress which actually impairs learning and memory. Bottom line? When it comes to noise, YMMV. From SciAm:

"Several studies have indicated that stress resulting from ongoing white noise can induce the release of cortisol, a hormone that helps to restore homeostasis in the body after a bad experience. Excess cortisol impairs function in the prefrontal cortex—an emotional learning center that helps to regulate “executive” functions such as planning, reasoning and impulse control. Some recent evidence indicates that the prefrontal cortex also stores short-term memories. Changes to this region, therefore, may disrupt a person’s capacity to think clearly and to retain information."

Well, I am certainly NOT surprised! I also find it very interesting that the so-called inability that many children are having with focussing has been on the rise for the last decade or so. There is no doubt in my mind that there is a correlation?

What are we doing to our children?