i think growing up watching tv programs your brain to jump rapidly between different ideas in very short bursts. and with text messaging and IMing and the like we're programming our brains to multi-thread.

I'm worried that the "multi-threading" tendency may come at the expense of the ability to maintain long-term single-pointed concentration. I know that when my job goes through its intermittent stages of lots of little things needing attention in rapid succession (both computer-based and paper-based), that my ability to just sit quietly and read a novel or nonfiction in my off-time is negatively impacted, and it takes a while to return.

I suspect the jury is still out on whether the next generations will lose the ability to read and enjoy long novels, or to follow long trains of thought or conversation, due to fragmented concentration spans.