Driven to Distraction by Technology!

by Mark Evenden @ Developing People International

I read an article the other day by Carl Honore, journalist and author of "In Praise of Slowness" which claimed that the average office worker is interrupted every three minutes by a phone call, e-mail, instant message or other distraction. This is an odd position for us to be in, as the digital communications that were supposed to make our working lives run more smoothly are actually preventing us from getting critical tasks accomplished.

I guess it is a challenge of modern working life: email, Twitter feeds, instant messages and text messages come so thick and fast that it is hard to ignore them. Some of the information will be important — and that’s precisely the problem. Turn it all off and you might as well quit your job, but read it all and you become so distracted that it is a challenge to get anything else done. Things are made worse by BlackBerrys, iPhones and other smart devices that enable workers to stay in touch 24/7. A few years ago, a study undertaken for computing firm Hewlett Packard found that 62% of people even checked work messages at home or on holiday.

My own belief is that it businesses want to improve productivity, it is vital that managers help their staff to deal with these distractions and interruptions. For me personally, I have turned off the e-mail setting that delivers a note as soon as it is received, so I don’t know when emails are sent and cannot be distracted by them. Instead, I check my emails on a more planned basis - perhaps 4 or 5 times per day. While this approach may frustrate some who want an ‘immediate reply, it cuts the time down I spend on e-mails dramatically.

I take a similar approach with my mobile. There are times when I don’t want to be disturbed and so I turn it off, and pick up my messages later. In addition I have so far resisted the temptation to have a smart phone; I have no desire to be told that I have an email at 8 o’clock in the evening when I am relaxing or spending time with my family.

Hoverer, managing expectations is the key to the above. Too often people expect an ‘instant reply’ but in reality they don’t need it there and then. If their expectations are managed and they know that their email, text or phone message will be responded to, then a vast amount of time can be saved.

We all need some uninterrupted time to think, plan and complete our own work which we cannot do if we are constantly being interrupted. It is therefore vital that we all learn to manage digital communication and not to let it manage us!