I watch a lot of youtube and listen to a lot of music, but something that has intrigued me as I've visited my parents is how the TV is always on, and often on the news.
Dad will be on his ipad, Mom on her phone, with the news, or GMA or Today playing constantly in the background.
As someone that normally spends time in quiet, or with curated content, it's like a culture shock, and somewhat distracting.
I often have something mindless on in the background (not news) while I'm working. I have unmedicated ADHD, and a low murmur occupies the part of my mind that goes SQUIRREL. With it pacified, the other parts of my brain can get to work.
The older gen, who still had ADHD just like us, are more likely to be undiagnosed and find other coping tools, often unknowingly.
@Agatha I, too, am very ADHD! I was diagnosed when I was six, and I too often have to jangle keys in front of that part of my mind.
My husband is too, but his distraction techniques is often music. Unfortunately, when I listen to music I get too drawn in, so if I'm going to do some work I'll pick music that's either unintelligible to me (foreign language works well) or something I know ALL the lyrics to already. Otherwise I'm like, "What did he say? Wait that was cool. Let me ponder. That reminds me of... Oh wait I need to look it up..." and off goes the squirrel. π
When I worked in kitchens, if I was the first person in, I'd work in silence. It let me hyperfocus and be highly productive. But the other folks would come in and ask if the radio was broken. They couldn't even conceive of working without music in the background.
BUT if I'm doing something that requires light focus and I don't want to hyperfocus, I'll put on music or a mindless TV show in the background.