Overstimulated

overstimulated  
[oh-ver-stim-yuh-leyt-ed]
verb, -lat·ed, -lat·ing

to be made aggressive. to become hyperactive.

Interesting definition, huh?  The Christmas season is always a little overstimulating.  Everywhere you turn, there is noise... albeit music, Christmas programs, bell ringers, people giving good cheer, etc.  It's loud!  I can easily get overstimulated.

Recently, I was talking about silence.  It's tough to get still and quiet.  Imagine growing up in the early 1800's.  There was no noise except the noise you made yourself or animals who lived close by.  No telephones, no televisions.  Maybe a train coming through your town once a week!  I'm sure you've watched movies like "Emma."  The most exciting thing that happened in a person's day was cross stitching or visiting a neighbor.  Noise level?   1.*  (Ok..maybe a little too much quiet!)  But can you envision how your great-grandparents or grandparents' lives have transformed?   Most of them grew up in rural America with very little entertainment.  They worked hard physically and put in long hours.  Once a week (if they were lucky!), they might get to go to the movie theatre and see a very clean black and white movie.   There were large family radios that would broadcast stories in the evening.  A family would gather around the radio and listen to their favorite story hour or listen to the president make his address.  If they had time for any other entertainment, they might attend a dance.  The noise level was at a 2.

But in 1870, the telephone was invented.  Of course, most people didn't have them until the early 1900's.  But even with telephones entering homes, the noise level only rose to about a 3.  Enter the television in 1939.  You may not know this, but when television first entered homes, there were very few channels.  And television came on at a certain time in the day and went off at night.  Even if you had your set on, there was NOTHING to watch!!  (I remember those days)  But the noise level rose to a 4.5 with televisions entering every home. 

Twenty-four hour news came into being which ushered in 24 hour programming of all sorts.  Noise level goes up to 6.5.  During that time, cellular phones were invented.  Of course, most of them were in vehicles to begin with--attached to the cigarette lighter (and boy, were they powerful!).  The noise level went up to a 7.5.  And then...the advent of the computer.  I remember our first encounter with an Apple computer.  Our church began using them around 1989--we personally couldn't have afforded one.  There was no networking then...but it came a few years later. The noise level grew to a 10.

Since that time, you've probably seen the explosional growth of cell phones and computers.  And add in video games, head phones, Facebook, MP3 players, etc.  If the normal levels of noise are between 1-10, I'd guess we're bumping 15-20 most days.  Consider your grandparents and great-grandparents---even your parents!  Our generations have been a part of this progressive  overstimulation.     (The Frog in the Kettle Syndrome!)But my children's generation has never known the noise level between 1.0-6.5!!  And their children have known nothing less than a 10.  What has this done to us?

I believe we're all living in overstimulation.  And just like our definition in the beginning...it's probably made us more aggressive.  The noise alone has done that.  But when you consider the images and messages that come with the noise, it's probably increased the aggression by 150% (probably more!!) from 1900.

So...what do we do with all of this?  How do we pull the noise level down around us?  It's going to have to happen family by family---and by choices.  Noise is addictive.  We get used to the stimulation--and overstimulation--and it easily pulls us back in.  I can tell you that we chose to go without a television one year when our children were still at home and, in my opinion, it was the best year ever for our family.  We learned how to communicate and enjoyed sitting and talking together in the evenings.  I believe too many children have televisions, electronic games, and DVR's in their bedrooms.  I personally don't even like noise machines.  I think it's stimulating our brains at night when they should be resting.  Of course, YOU are going to have to decide what's important to you and your family.  But I hope and pray you'll consider giving your children (and yourselves) quieter lives.  Give your family REST this year.  God prescribed rest for us---a sabbath rest.  He even took one Himself.  We all need it!

*Of course, you realize, these noise levels and percentages are my own guestimation!  But I think I'm a pretty good guesser.  ;)