Balanced Immune Health

I remember reading a few years ago that in Japan, text messaging was the preferred communication method among teens and young adults, more so than email, talking on the phone or chat rooms. I thought it seemed a bit ridiculous at the time, but now I totally understand.

My wife and I and one of our daughters last Sunday decided to take a rare “open” afternoon and drive downtown to stroll around an international food fair outdoors. The timing was perfect; beautiful fall weather, a whole afternoon where we were all free (no music rehearsals, no band parents volunteer events, no piled-up household chores that couldn’t wait).

Of course what happens? My daughter is texting her friends the entire afternoon, reaching into her pocket to grab her phone about every 90 seconds. I came that close to snatching that phone and throwing it into the Des Moines River, my version of that Corona beer commercial. So much for taking an afternoon to catch up  on conversation with my daughter, who normally is sequestered from me during the week by homework, late practices and who knows what else.

And of course, me being the quiet, in-control male, I refuse to honestly confront the issue at the time of the offending behavior. I try to signal my displeasure subtly with a scrunched brow and roll of the eyes. It is acknowledged and then promptly ignored. So I let it fester inside, probably doing wonders for my already borderline blood pressure.

I fear for both my daughters and their penchant for all texting all the time. I hope it is a phase that will somehow pass by the time they’re young adults, but I’m not encouraged. Between texting and Facebook–the first thing they descend upon when they get home and the last thing they do before bed–they are plugged into a network nearly every waking hour.

As they and their peers grow older, what awaits them? Look at what’s happening now in the corporate world. A New York Times story today describes the serious rise in physcial ailments that health care professionals are witnessing among business travelers. Greater coronary and related conditions spawned from a world of airport jungles, Blackberry addiction and the crush of multitasking demands made possible by your friendly neighborhood global wireless broadband.  This trend is channeling directly into the heart of the immune balance story. Big time.

If my 16-year-olds are living like this, is there any doubt that a new wave of adult-onset Attention Deficit Disorder will take shape soon? I recall an interview with John Cleese, a founding member of the legendary Monty Python’s Flying Circus, who had since built a successful business producing corporate training videos (do you think sitting through one of his training films might actually be fun??).  The question put to him: What is one thing you would wish for in the business world that is missing right now?  He said that he truly believes business decision making and management effectiveness could be improved if executives could and would take a good amount of time to stand at a window, look out, and ponder problems and opportunities. In other words, solitary meditation. That does fly in the face of another executive whose staff told me he schedules his day in 10-minute increments, so be ready to go when he is…and then wrap it up quickly.   

Maybe I’m all wet (or, as they say within the digerati, not a high bandwidth individual). Maybe the onslaught of toiling within multiple electronic (and airborne) pathways is simply a matter of mild adaptation and readjustment. Anyone else have some words of wisdom on the wisdom of a wired existence?

Filed under Immune Balance, Immune System, Stress, Stress-Related Illness, Travel