MishpishAre emails and ipods bad for you?
March 26th 2007 02:52
Reports reveal that people aren't working as hard as they should because email and ipod distract them from getting their work done! Surprise Surprise! So what's big business going to do about it?
An interesting article in the NY Times reveals that multitasking isn't all it's cracked up to be. That people shouldn't focus on multitasking and should return to more conventional ways of studying and working.
One report recommends that email should only be checked once an hour and that music with lyrics (ie, listening to an ipod) isn't productive. Easy listening and classical is the way to go in order to achieve true productivity.
From the article:
Of course, like anything else, there are studies that show the benefit of email in aiding today's busy workload.
I wonder if there are any studies that look into the fact that people now probably have much larger workloads and expectations planted on them today as a result of technology? That we now have the capability to receive so much more information via email, internet, mobiles and pdas... therefore we are always contactable and able to recieve and process more work?
No doubt people would be more focused if life offered less distractions? But does that make them a bad thing or a good thing?
You only need to go back and watch the now-classic film "9 to 5" to realise how much our lives have changed within one generation. Photocopiers the size of a room, typing pools with fifteen girls on electric typewriters. No faxes or mobiles. Two hour lunches with martinis...
But help may be on the way. Research is being undertaken to find ways to help people be better managers of their time and technology:
Oh no! Now our computer is going to give us grief when we've been digressing on our orble blog for too long!
What's my point? Should we limit the impact of technology in our life? Or has that ship sailed?
Link to the NY TIMES Article: slow down multitaskers article
An interesting article in the NY Times reveals that multitasking isn't all it's cracked up to be. That people shouldn't focus on multitasking and should return to more conventional ways of studying and working.
One report recommends that email should only be checked once an hour and that music with lyrics (ie, listening to an ipod) isn't productive. Easy listening and classical is the way to go in order to achieve true productivity.
From the article:
In a recent study, a group of Microsoft workers took, on average, 15 minutes to return to serious mental tasks, like writing reports or computer code, after responding to incoming e-mail or instant messages. They strayed off to reply to other messages or browse news, sports or entertainment Web sites.
“I was surprised by how easily people were distracted and how long it took them to get back to the task,” said Eric Horvitz, a Microsoft research scientist and co-author, with Shamsi Iqbal of the University of Illinois, of a paper on the study that will be presented next month.
“I was surprised by how easily people were distracted and how long it took them to get back to the task,” said Eric Horvitz, a Microsoft research scientist and co-author, with Shamsi Iqbal of the University of Illinois, of a paper on the study that will be presented next month.
Of course, like anything else, there are studies that show the benefit of email in aiding today's busy workload.
I wonder if there are any studies that look into the fact that people now probably have much larger workloads and expectations planted on them today as a result of technology? That we now have the capability to receive so much more information via email, internet, mobiles and pdas... therefore we are always contactable and able to recieve and process more work?
No doubt people would be more focused if life offered less distractions? But does that make them a bad thing or a good thing?
You only need to go back and watch the now-classic film "9 to 5" to realise how much our lives have changed within one generation. Photocopiers the size of a room, typing pools with fifteen girls on electric typewriters. No faxes or mobiles. Two hour lunches with martinis...
But help may be on the way. Research is being undertaken to find ways to help people be better managers of their time and technology:
Brain scans, social networking algorithms and other new tools should help provide a deeper understanding of the limits and the potential of the human brain, they said. That will teach workers in groups how to manage the overload of digital communications efficiently.
A new organization, the Institute for Innovation and Information Productivity, whose sponsors include Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft and Johnson & Johnson, has been created to sponsor such research. It provided money for the recent research project at Oxford’s Institute for the Future of the Mind, for example.
Further research could help create clever technology, like sensors or smart software that workers could instruct with their preferences and priorities to serve as a high-tech “time nanny” to ease the modern multitasker’s plight.
A new organization, the Institute for Innovation and Information Productivity, whose sponsors include Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft and Johnson & Johnson, has been created to sponsor such research. It provided money for the recent research project at Oxford’s Institute for the Future of the Mind, for example.
Further research could help create clever technology, like sensors or smart software that workers could instruct with their preferences and priorities to serve as a high-tech “time nanny” to ease the modern multitasker’s plight.
Oh no! Now our computer is going to give us grief when we've been digressing on our orble blog for too long!
What's my point? Should we limit the impact of technology in our life? Or has that ship sailed?
Link to the NY TIMES Article: slow down multitaskers article
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