Saturday, February 19, 2011
Alzheimer's meets ADD
It is true that one doesn't know when one begins down the road to Alzheimer's. It is not my intent to make light of the disease, only my sliding toward it. My recollection is that it began around the time I purchased my IPhone. I was alone in a San Francisco hotel room, and there was no reason not to take it to bed on my first night alone with it. All warm and cozy in bed - I tapped and slid, tapped and slid, tapped and slid until I had the setting just right. I searched all the free apps. I text everyone I knew and possibly a few stranger contacts to see the florescent green balloons appear. Texts were more profound in green balloons. I fell asleep with it in my hand. Discovery about everything was only a tap and slide away. It isn't that I hadn't been in a similar situation with a certain laptop - it was just that this new device was so portable. I could learn with every free moment. I could be anywhere, anytime to tap and slide my way to all knowledge. For someone whose family library was a Bible and a set of encylpedias, access to global knowledge was a drug. And exploring all this candy, I found I also had a short attention span and short memory to go along with it. My family and friends shared all the little details of their lives, but it became details I couldn't remember. I couldn't remember the how, what, where, when and why of any conversation. I passed along details to others - the wrong details. I borrowed the information but I couldn't forward it or give it away accurately. I had information overload. Somewhere deep down, I knew it was happening-the inability to retain my learning. With the phone conversations, the texts, and the web surfing, I was losing knowledge. But it didn't stop me - My wish list for Christmas was an IPad - and I got it! Today, I sat texting one daughter with my IPhone, playing long distance Scrabble with another daughter on my IPad, searching for RV sites on my laptop while reading a real book. Someone help me, please!
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Lol. The good thing is that even with the addition of all the technology at your fingertips that you still manage to get a lot of reading done! Wish I could say the same :-)
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