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Why can't you pay attention anymore?
March 28, 2005
The result, says Carl Honore, journalist and author of "In Praise of Slowness," is a situation where the digital communications that were supposed to make working lives run more smoothly are actually preventing people from getting critical tasks accomplished.
Honore, who cited the estimate of an interruption every three minutes, acknowledges that he would not part with his laptop or phone. But he adds that "it's possible to get too much of a good thing. As a society, that's where we are at the moment."
What's new:
The digital communications supposed to make things run more smoothly are actually preventing people from getting critical tasks accomplished.
Bottom line:
People are coming up with low-tech strategies and companies are developing software to help workers tackle the flood of e-mail, calls and messages.
Microsoft, which created much of the software that allows for instant interruptions, such as the alerts that pop up with each new e-mail, is aware of the problem.
"It used to be: 'I've got to be online, it's so frustrating that I can't get on,'" said Chris Capossela, a vice president in Microsoft's Information Worker unit. "Now that's happened. People are ultraconnected. And you know what? Now they are starting to realize, 'Wow, I want to actually stop getting interrupted.'"
For years, technology has worked to get people more connected. In the office there's e-mail, instant messages and the phone. On the road, cell phones and BlackBerrys enable workers to stay in touch with colleagues.
There is a mini rebellion under way, however. Desperate for some quiet time to think, people are coming up with low-tech strategies to get away from all their technology. That has Microsoft and others taking note and looking for ways to create software that can be more adept at preventing interruptions.
"If you don't have that sort of free time to dream and muse and mull, then you are not being creative, by definition," said Dan Russell, a senior manager at IBM's Almaden Research Center in San Jose, Calif.
After concluding three years ago that he was becoming a slave to e-mail, Russell decided to put his foot down. These days, he takes his time replying to messages. All his responses say at the bottom: "Join the slow email movement! Read your mail just twice each day. Recapture your life's time and relearn to dream."
Russell has turned off the e-mail settings that deliver a note as soon as it is received. Instead, he pulls down unread messages twice a day. His approach may irk those who want a speedy reply, but he said it has cut the time he spends on e-mail in half, to less than two hours a day.
The IBM researcher has other tricks, too. He leaves his cell phone in the car and doesn't use instant messaging software. And when he really needs some uninterrupted time to think, he will schedule the break as an important out-of-the-office event. In reality, he will just find a nearby office and close the door.
Russell acknowledges, though, that his efforts have only a limited effect without others around him joining in--and so far, he hasn't managed to persuade many to slow down. "I'm making no headway in the world," he said.
The problem appears to be getting worse. A study by Hewlett-Packard earlier this year found that 62 percent of British adults are addicted to their e-mail--checking messages during meetings, after working hours and on vacation. Half of workers felt a need to respond to e-mails immediately or within an hour, and one in five people reported being "happy" to interrupt a business or social gathering to respond to an e-mail or phone message.
Even the last few bastions of disconnectedness are being wired. For Nasdaq CEO Bob Greifeld, the airplane was the one place he could count on for some time to step back and ponder things.
Why can't you pay attention anymore?
"That was clearly a place where you could get away," Greifeld said. Increasingly, though, Greifeld said that airlines are starting to offer broadband Internet access.
It's all part of a culture shift that has accompanied all of the new modes of communications. These days, corporate culture frowns on those who turn off their instant messaging software or don't respond quickly to the latest e-mail.
"People start to look at you with contempt or disgust if you shift away from the technology," Honore said.
Businesses could benefit from introducing a collective effort to switch off, Honore said. He points to the marketing department at Veritas Software, which last year instituted "E-mail-free Fridays" for
See more CNET content tagged:
distraction, interruption, worker, communication, IBM Corp.
After that I informed the staff that I would check my email 3 times a day & my phone messages 5 times a day, or they may reach me at 8:00am, 11:30am and 3:00pm.
Guess what. . . I got my work done (& so did they) and we all completed the projects more effective!
Have a great day,
Larry
>& everyone elses messages OR do you want me to
>complete the projects that I'm assigned too
>complete on-time & on-budget?", he paused, said
>"Get the project completed" and walked off.
I would have paid just to hear you say that and see the look on his face. Nicely done!
Technology is not everything, there is more to life then always being connected. I've learned the hard way after losing a couple realy GOOD jobs dude to my personal habits.
Also, the policy of the firm is not to be big brother so we as workers should use common sense. Who is paying your bills? Being on the internet, on your cell phone, or doing your projects on time and on budget.
Dude the previous post made me laugh so hard. Like the last, post I would like to see that guys face. It would of been a classic.
Salam (PEACE)
Nael Mohammad
There's more to life than communication.(email, phones etc.) Communicate wiht those that really matter- and make eye contact when you do it.
- Don?t shoot the messenger
- by July 22, 2005 3:56 PM PDT
- E-mail, instant messaging, phone and voicemail are simply conduits for communication. They do not author content ? they have no say so in the timing of communiqués. I argue the tools are not the problem, but rather the misappropriate use of these tools for non-valued added purposes. Placed in the wrong hands, these tools become weapons of mass distraction.
- Like this Reply to this comment
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- Balance
- by jasonemanuelson1 July 24, 2005 3:33 PM PDT
- It is all a matter of balance. With everything in life becoming so
- Like this
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- I agree
- by Bill Dautrive July 24, 2005 7:54 PM PDT
- I only check my email twice a day and refuse to ever have a cell phone. Problem solved for me. With people who need a cell( or think they need one), need to ask themselves why they have it and does it help them.
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(12 Comments)competitive, people strive to be more communicative every day.
The market answers wit tolls that will communicate in almost
every scenario. I know people that have telephones built into
their bathrooms, or take their cell phone into the bathroom.
There are valid points by the author, but there are valid points
that technology is not to blame, the user is, but then there are
arguments that people need to be that way in order to survive.
The big question is whether we are all willing to stop and really
observe whether or not all of this impacts us or not. To some it
will, to some it will not. But, we all really have to make a point of
noticing things like this in order to keep from going crazy.
I do think that adding the ability to block most of the calls coming in at will would be useful. A parent that is on the move a lot at work and constantly harrassed by pointless phone calls all day would not want to turn it off for fear of missing a call from their kids school. Also, shutting your boss out, usually isn't a good idea.