We receive many magazines for the medical office waiting room, and, for whatever reason, many of them are delivered unsolicited. No complaints, really, because if we do not have to spend dollars on subscriptions to Good Housekeeping, Food Network Magazine, Scientific American or Motor Trend, then the subscription budget is significantly reduced and it provides a greater variety of reading material options for those patients (or caregivers) who are waiting to be seen.
One monthly magazine (if one could call it that) which receives much patient handling is Highlights, and for an adult primary care office this is quite interesting. Jeannine's grandparents kindly pay for her subscription to the magazine and she volunteers it to the waiting room when she is finished exploring it. Clearly the reason we have it here is for those patients who need to occupy a child while waiting for their appointment...or so I thought.
I will not infrequently scan the waiting room to get a feel for how long someone has been waiting or to see if a patient needs to update information we need for billing, government, insurance or communication purposes, and what I have found fascinating is that more often than not, patients who came without children are going through not People Magazine or Sports Illustrated, but Highlights. Now I generally tend to think that most of the magazines on the waiting room table are pretty much mindless drivel, and have made the entire waiting room chuckle as I dump the current issue of People on the table encouraging those sitting there not to fight over it just because they can't wait to find out how Brittany Spears is dealing with her latest romance collapse. Face it, these days most of us have stresses in our lives and the short articles in these publications about frivolous current trends and people can help take our minds from our troubles.....but Highlights????
Having given up on even cracking open the cover of this activity magazine because of an almost post traumatic stress associated with having been humiliated by my younger brothers (and I have five) growing up -- who somehow or other were able to find all the hidden pictures (no picture clues in those years, just words), answer all the riddles and unscramble all the word puzzles faster than I could, I wondered just what it was about Highlights that these adults found more fascinating than learning more about Kate Middleton's baby bump.
It is an amazingly simple answer: despite the sometimes rudimentary puzzles and simple stories, this activity magazine provides a mental, intellectual (if you will) challenge that is a refreshing diversion from the mental herpes one acquires from an overload of popular reading material. In this day and age of gadgets that can, with a push of a button, dial family and friends for phone calls, or add, subtract, multiply, divide -- even complete higher level math calculations a the push of some buttons, or give step by step directions to the nearest coffee shop without the use of a map, why use our brains to recall or remember information? Also, with an excessive focus on the "lives and loves of the 'beautiful people'" our brains are further boiled to mush. What is more pathetic is that somehow we, "the poor masses," are led to believe as we slog page after page through the mindlessness of popular publications that without the sort of lifestyle of the "rich and famous" we are utter failures.
But Highlights is our hope. In addition to the the puzzles and games, there are simple stories which focus on the positive outcomes that result from doing good and being kind. Who can read "The Timbertoes" or "Goofus and Gallant" without pulling for those do-gooders, and are then rewarded in the end as Gallant shines head and shoulders above his less mannerly brother?
Besides, completing these mental challenges give us a better "feel good" attitude of mind and sense of accomplishment that just does not come from reading about the new 45-cylander motor that goes from 0-400 in less than 60 seconds, and can be found under the hood of a car no one but Jay Leno or some member of Congress can afford. Honestly, which activity has the potential of leaving us more uplifted?
So for what it is worth, I appreciate the need for people to escape from the realities of their life situations -- especially when sitting in a medical office waiting to be seen or, sometimes waiting for a family member or friend who might be very ill. Really, is there a better way to feel good about our health, wellness and relationships (no matter how deplorable) than to know that the "beautiful people" -- the Kardashians, Prince Harry and Gwyneth Paltrow are "suffering" as well? I don't know, but I think that it is far healthier and immensely more enjoyable to engage our minds in some small, simple mental challenges, and, in spite of some PTSD tendencies on my part, I am glad that Jeannine volunteers this publication to our office -- and I am brave enough to display it.
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