Distractions.

I must have lost my ability to multitask or something. When I sit down to work on homework, I must have relative silence. I can’t have the television or radio on, I can’t have the cat sitting on my lap and I certainly can’t be talking on the phone or chatting with others online. There used to be a time when I could do homework while riding the bus to school, but I’ve since lost that ability.

I’m noticing that the younger generation is very adept at multitasking. I sit next to a guy in math class that listens to his iPod for the entire class. Since it’s a math lab and there’s no lecture going on, it doesn’t really offend the instructor, but I don’t know how he can sit there and work out algebraic equations while listening to music. The numbers and letters do enough of a dance for me without adding music to the equation.

There’s also this trend of whispering during class lectures. Today in sociology I had two guys to my right (one of them sitting in my staked out seat, by the way, next time I get my seat back I’ll pee in it to mark my territory) carrying on a whispered conversation and eating Doritos and to my left I had two girls text-messaging over their cell phones and whispering amongst themselves. What happened to the days when we listened to the instructor? Would it have been rude of me to stand up and yell “shut up!”? Dare I sit in the front row of class next time?

Perhaps because I’m older I’m a little more serious about my education this time around. Or it could be that because I’m older I just can’t keep up with these young whipper-snappers.