Those Annoying Crawlers
Those Annoying Crawlers
Published: October 19, 2009
Joshua Warnecke of Portland, Oregon, writes:
Marilyn: Among my extended family members, I've noticed that people over 40 or 50 years old dislike the crawlers that scroll across the bottom of the television screen. The younger generation doesn't mind them so much. Do you know why?
Marilyn responds:
Studies of the brain show that as people get older, they often lose the ability to ignore distractions. This is annoying, of course. (Notice that this differs from an inability to concentrate, which would occur regardless of distractions.)
Younger people find it easier to suppress attention to material they think is irrelevant. Yet this has a downside. Due to their lack of experience, they are less likely to judge wisely about what‚s germane in the first place.
All of which is why younger people make great mathematicians and air-traffic controllers, but older people make the best generals and presidents.
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