Fighting Online ADHD

A reader writes:

I believe it was August when you posted a request for people reading your blog to subscribe to the print version of "The Atlantic."  Despite being unemployed and living at my mother's house back home in Michigan, I plunked down the $14.95 for a year-long subscription and received the October issue in the mail a couple weeks ago.  I only today got around to reading it.

Thank you for reminding me that the magazine was available in print form, not just online.  How remarkably refreshing.  There's something to be said for having an actual piece of writing that you can feel with your hands, especially one so well written.  I spent two hours reading, not distracted by IMs, Tweets, email notifications, or Facebook posts.

(Text messages are another story; I'll have to remember to turn off my phone next time.) And I still only managed to get through barely half of the contents.

I'm just now realizing how the way that I intake information has caused me to develop ADHD-like qualities.  My attention span has dwindled to a pathetic level.  My need for constant and quick inputs of information makes me have to focus just to get past the abstract of a news article.  Because of this, I'm making a concerted effort to slow myself down and actually digest the information that is coming at me.  And reading articles on actual paper instead of off my glaring computer screen is one of my methods to reverse this trend.  It won't happen overnight, but thanks for reminding me of the importance of print media, even if it's a dying species.