Sunday, June 7, 2009

MP3 ADHD

There is an epidemic among teens I've named MP3 ADHD, similar to the channel-flipping behavior some men have where they can only watch 15 seconds of any show before going on to the next channel.
MP3 ADHD is a strange, erratic behavior where a teen cannot listen to an entire song, a song of their own choosing, for more than a few seconds.
The first time I witnessed this disorder was with Elizabeth, in my kitchen. She browsed through Sadie's cd collection, chose a cd, punched the button for the number song she wanted on the cd, "Oooh! I love this one! Do you know it?" she said aloud. The song played for a few seconds, and she forwarded it to the next song. A few notes into that song, she ejected the disc, and had another one ready. She repeated this behavior several times, with different discs. "I have music ADD." she told me.

The disorder may be genetic, because last week, I was transporting her brother, Alexander, from Fairmont, and he had his mp3 player plugged into the van. All the songs on his mp3 player were songs he liked. And yet, he couldn't seem to stand to listen to any of them for more than just a few seconds.
It was like a wacky game show... Cash Cab meets Name That Tune:
"Do you know this one?"

"Um, from the Lion King?"

"Right!"

"I'm gonna be a mighty king, so enemies be- Hey!"

"What about this one?"

"Oh, from Pocohontas! I love this song- what are you doing?"

"What movie is this song from?"

"Oh, that's from The Jungle Book, um... I Want to be Like You.... 'Now I'm the king of the swingers, Oh, the jungle VIP... I've reached the top and had to stop... And that's what botherin' me'-"

"What about this one?"


But it wasn't until I got Tiffany in my car that I saw how bad this disorder can manifest itself. Tiffany at first did not seem to have MP3 ADHD. She plugged her mp3 player into the dash and chose a song (in this case it was Bon Jovi's Livin' On A Prayer), and we all began singing along... we got to the part of the song right before the chorus, the part everyone knows and can sing along to, and she switched it!
Um, okay. This new song was cool, too. We listened to the first minute, and just before the chorus, bam!
With the next song, she started it but fast-forwarded it,
"The intro's like, 34 seconds long!" she wailed.

"I like the intro!" I yelled back.

"Okay! I'll start it again!" she said.

We listened to all 34 seconds of the intro, and just before the chorus, you guessed it! Next song!

"Pick one song, and listen to it all the way through!" I said in a stern voice.

"Okay, I'm done. What do you want to listen to?" she said.

"You pick. I don't care. Just the whole song, all the way through."

"Okay, how about Taylor Swift?"

"Sure. Go."

Everyone: "... And I was crying on the staircase, Begging you please don't go, and I said...- HEY!!"

"Sorry!! I'm done now. Whatever song you like."

"I liked that song! Why do you keep doing that?"

"I'm done now. Here. I'll play this one."

"Oh, Miley Cyrus. Okay."

All of us: "... There's always gonna be another mountain, I'm always gonna wanna make it- Jesus! Take that thing away from her!!"

"It's okay. I'm done now. I won't do it again. Here, pick whatever song you like."

I'm hoping there will be medication for this soon. The problem is these folks will never know about it, because they will only see the first couple seconds of the commercial before switching it.

1 comment:

  1. Sometimes I wonder what it's like to have grown up without LPs and cassette tapes.

    Now I know.

    ReplyDelete