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President’s Letter

Oh the Noise! Noise! Noise!

By Stephen J. Ezzo, MD

Itook my car in for service the other day. Okay, so this might Television is no better — and probably worse. Every news/
not be as gripping a first sentence as, “It was a bright cold sports channel has an upper banner, lower banner and side
day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen,”1 but I bars with information deemed crucial for our knowledge. Do
had to start somewhere. In this case, that somewhere led me we really need all this information that we cannot possibly
process? I am convinced that only a very small percentage of
to yet another interaction with our sensory overloaded world. us can multi-task successfully. Our brains — at least mine —
are not wired that way. The paradox is obvious: We are being
Apparently, having the TV blaring in the customer lounge asked to hyperfocus on so many things that we can’t focus
on anything. No wonder the talking heads on these shows are
was not enough; the company also was playing very loud always screaming — they’re trying to get our attention away
from all the other stuff running across the screen. For all you
music throughout the reception area. I’m not talking about X-Files conspiracy theorists out there, perhaps the Military-
Industrial-Media-Political Complex does this intentionally
classic ’60s/’70s rock. It was the formulaic, soulless tripe that to distract us from their agenda. (Do I hear black helicopters
above the house?)
masquerades as “music” today. (No apologies to you Bieber fans
The list goes on and on — music in stores, restrooms, gas
What does it say about out there.) But wait, stations. Music is no longer the soundtrack of your life if you can’t
us that we consider choose what to listen to and when to hear it. To me, restaurants
there’s more! As if this are particularly egregious. If I don’t want to talk to anyone while
left-right combo wasn’t eating, I’ll dine alone. The only exception is the fine Italian
enough of a punch to restaurant playing Sinatra in the background sotto voce. Pair that
with veal saltimbocca and you’re halfway to romance.
such distractions a form the solar plexus and
of entertainment? Or, tympanic membranes, Perhaps all of this is why we face an ADD crisis in both
most of the customers children and adults. Just watch any children’s cartoon show —
the images change every five seconds on average. How can a
more pointedly, that we who were waiting also developing brain learn to focus and concentrate?
desire such things? Have were talking on their
cell phones, of course. Even the “quiet” times are not without noise. Think about
completing your electronic health records in the solitude of your
we become incapable As I sat trying to do office (after hours, of course) or at home. Each screen has so
some administrative many parts with some areas highlighted, others not, that our eyes
constantly are being pulled away. While researching various
of finding fulfillment in work, my usual ability topics for my president’s letters, every Internet page is filled with
performing a single-sense to filter out all the white ads, most disturbingly regarding something I recently viewed.
noise around me failed. Yes, I understand the ads pay for the website so we don’t have to,
and our clicks and purchases are tracked from cradle to grave,
activity, such as reading, There was just too much but again, the paradox rears its hydra head: Here’s the info you
writing, or God forbid, coming at me, and the need, but allow us to distract you so you don’t learn what you
early morning hour did need to know. But, at least, you bought those distressed jeans.

talking with the person not help. So I settled for If you’ve not figured this out by now, full disclosure: I am not
starting the first draft what you would consider a high-tech dude. I negotiate the digital
next to us? world with feet shod more in cement galoshes than running
of this letter. (I learned shoes. Pretty much anything I write, for work or pleasure,
later that the dealership starts scrawled on a legal pad (the better to scribble notes in
the margins). So, while I am along the lines of a semi-Luddite,
has quiet cubicles set I do recognize not only the inevitability of the digital age, but
also the raw power of it. Hold your smartphone in your hand —
aside for customers essentially you have the cumulative knowledge of the world in
your palm. That is a powerful and sobering thought.
who need to work. I had assumed they were for finalizing car

deals.) Still, I did have the opportunity to indulge my passion

for writing.

What does it say about us that we consider such distractions a

form of entertainment? Or, more pointedly, that we desire such

things? Have we become incapable of finding fulfillment in

performing a single-sense activity, such as reading, writing, or

God forbid, talking with the person next to us?

Try going to a sporting event — there is no “down” time to

discuss what we’ve just witnessed. When the clock is stopped or

time is called, on comes the music, scoreboard blasts and strobe

lights. Even if you want to chit chat, the ambient noise drowns

you out. To paraphrase Rodney Dangerfield, “I went to a music

festival the other night and a basketball game broke out.”

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