We Americans love media! We love entertainment. We bathe in it. We pay big bucks, sit through the commercials, eat the popcorn and and beg for more. Not only do we enjoy distractions, we crave them. We’re addicted to distractions. We seek them out. Why?

I think the answer lies in some complicated sociological study. One that would be over my head. Maybe the Ken and Barbie lifestyles we seemingly want is turning out to be unfulfilling. Maybe the gap separating our professional lives from our personal lives is growing too large, forcing us to consume media like a drug, numbing the pain away. Or maybe collectively we’ve chosen careers that suck, have very little meaning, or worse, do social harm, and force us to seek out the next crisis.

But the data is in: distractions make us stupid. The cure = focus. Stanford University students did a fascinating study about the affects of media multitasking. The article states,

The researchers are still studying whether chronic media multitaskers are born with an inability to concentrate or are damaging their cognitive control by willingly taking in so much at once. But they’re convinced the minds of multitaskers are not working as well as they could.

“When they’re in situations where there are multiple sources of information coming from the external world or emerging out of memory, they’re not able to filter out what’s not relevant to their current goal,” said Wagner, an associate professor of psychology. “That failure to filter means they’re slowed down by that irrelevant information.”

So maybe it’s time to stop e-mailing if you’re following the game on TV, and rethink singing along with the radio if you’re reading the latest news online. By doing less, you might accomplish more.

Translation: time to wake up and take ownership. We’re in the middle of an enormous paradigm shift in how businesses are formed and marketed. Today, anyone can source a product, build a website, put out remarkable ads on YouTube and compete with Procter and Gamble. But in the midst of all of this opportunity, we seem stuck with our noses in our blackberries with a “I’ll do something later” attitude. Meanwhile, we reach for the next crisis, the next season of Lost, our inbox…anything to distract us from carving out our spot in history.

So what’s the answer?

Seth Godin, as usual, published a very insightful blog post on July 4th. It’s about how we want people to behave on our birthdays. On July 4th, we blow off fireworks to celebrate America’s independence. On Martin Luther King day, we serve. On our own birthdays, we get birthday cards and presents. But what if we asked our friends and family to do something kind for a stranger, or commit an ounce of energy to a noble cause? Instead of buying us something we really don’t need, what if they did something special for someone else? What will that do for your legacy?

When it’s all said and done, our legacy is the story of us that others will share. Everyday, we make decisions that affect our legacy. Want to be remembered as an honorable person? Live honorably. Want to be remembered as brave? Be courageous. People have memories. And with the aid of the internet, those memories are now permanent.

It’s a new generation. We all need to come to the realization that we live in a fishbowl. Not only is our family watching, which is reason enough to live right, but the world is watching. So how do you want to be remembered? How do you want people to celebrate your birthday when you’re gone?

On my birthday, I want you to thank someone that’s encouraged you to move forward in the face of adversity. Someone that encouraged you to move beyond your comfort zone, despite the risk of failure or embarrassment. Someone special. It can be your coach, your teacher, your parent, whoever. That’s all.