According to statistics, it is becoming increasingly rare in many Western countries for families to eat together. It seems that peopleno longer have time to enjoy a meal, let alone buy and prepare the ingredients. Meanwhile, fast food outlets are proliferating.Further evidence of the effects of the increasing pace of life can be seen on all sides. Motorists drum their fingers impatiently at stoplights. Tempers flare in supermarket queues. Saddest of all is the success of an American series of books called ‘One MinuteBedtime Stories’. What, one has to ask, do parents do with the time thus saved?               According to Barton Sparagon, M.D., medical director of the Meyer Friedman Institute in San Francisco, and an expert onstress-related illness, the above are all symptoms of a modern epidemic called ‘hurry sickness’. The term was coined nearly 40 yearsago by a prominent cardiologist, who noticed that all of his heart disease patients had common behavioral characteristics, the mostobvious being that they were in a chronic rush. Hurry sickness has been an issue in our culture ever since, but the problem isescalating in degree and intensity, leading to rudeness, short-tempered behavior and even violence, alongside a range of physicalills.
      The primary culprit, according to Sparagon, is the increasing prevalence of technology- like e-mail, cell phones, and laptopcomputers. We can bring work home, into our bedrooms and on our vacations. Time has sped up for so many people, and there isincreased pressure to do more in the same number of hours, says Sparagon. Jull Stein, a sociologist at the University of California atLos Angeles, agrees that time is being more compressed than ever. ‘In the past, an overnight letter used to be a big deal. Now if youcan’t send an e-mail attachment, there’s something wrong. Because the technology is available to us, there is an irresistible urge touse it.’
      What about those annoying people who shout into their cell phones, oblivious to those around them? Stein says that self-centeredbehavior is related to larger social trends as well as technology. ‘There is a breakdown of the nuclear family, of community, ofbelonging; and an increased alienation and sense that we are all disconnected from one another. This breakdown came before thetechnology, but the technology has exacerbated it.’ Now we connect through this technology, says Stein, and we don’t haveface-to-face interaction. Ironically, as people pull their cell phones out in the most unlikely venues, our personal lives are availableon a public level as never before. People are having work meetings and conversations about their spouses and their therapy sessionswith complete impunity. Ordinarily we’d never be exposed to this information, says Stein.
      Sparagon claims that there is more a sense of entitlement now than ever (‘Why should anyone slow me down?’). But he warns thatthere is more than civility at stake. ‘This chronic impatience is damaging not only to our social environment, but to our physicalhealth. It builds, and then it doesn’t take much to explode. And for those who repress it, it’s equally damaging.’ The high-techrevolution and the lifestyle it has spawned have brought with them a rash of serious health problems, including palpitations,immune disorders, insomnia and migraines.
      Recovery is possible, but Sparagon emphasizes that there is no quick fix. Sparagon works with people to become aware of theirstress and the impact it’s having on their lives. They examine their belief systems and they learn to challenge their behaviors. Onepopular exercise is to assign a chronically impatient person to stand in the longest line in the grocery store.
31. What does the word ‘proliferating’ mean?
(A) Increase greatly and quickly in number
(B) Make something happen
(C) Move around quietly trying not to be seen or heard
(D) Advertise something repeatedly in order to increase its sales