I'm someone who has struggled with concentration issues my entire life. I used to bemoan that I grew up in the time before medication existed to treat the condi

I'm someone who has struggled with concentration issues my entire life. I used to bemoan that I grew up in the time before medication existed to treat the condition, since my inability to concentrate has caused some particularly negative consequences in my life. But recently I had a profound realization about my concentration issues. I attended a 10-day meditation training course where, in addition to meditating most of the days, all my distractions (cell phone, computer, books, etc) were taken away from me. The first few days were extremely rough. I went through withdrawal symptoms that were really an extreme version of my concentration issues since my mind felt the need for distraction and there was nothing to sate that desire. But at the end of those 10 days, I had a brief period where I had absolutely no difficulty concentrating. It was such a stark contrast to my life before then, that it was particularly notable. But addiction to distraction isn't like addiction to alcohol or drugs. Short of a radical "into the woods" plan, you can't go cold turkey on modern life. And since I've reintroduced my modern devices into my life, my concentration issues have returned. But it's been important for me to have realized the true cause of those issues because dialing back on TV, computing devices and everything else I use to divert my attention can cause short-term relief when things get really bad. Turning my cell phone off and spending the entire day hiking outdoors can really help. Based on my own experience, I wonder whether our practice of medicating attention deficit issues is really just a horribly misguided attempt to treat the symptoms rather than the underlying cause. Life has changed so rapidly within the course of the past couple of generations and I don't think there's been enough attention paid to the effect that it has on our bodies, minds and health. I firmly believe that, in time, we'll look back at this period and our computing devices and other modern distractions and view them in the same way that we view asbestos insulation or lead paint...incredibly effective at accomplishing their immediate goal but with devastating health consequences that we only recognized years after they were introduced. I'm curious whether this rings true with others, especially those who've had concentration issues. Have others tried a "digital detox" and has it helped? Or is ADHD something different from what I've experienced and that medication really is the only way to treat it?