8 Must- Reads About Digital Distraction and Information Overload

Digital overload caused by a deluge of information and frequent interruptions is a phenomenon that you cannot ignore. A recent spate of articles in the popular press highlight the impact of distractions on our lives. Here are just a few "must read" articles from the last several weeks:

• Newsweek, Feb 27, 2011 - "I Can't Think!" - The Twitterization of our culture has revolutionized our lives, but with an unintended consequence--our overloaded brains freeze when we have to make decisions.

• Time Magazine, Feb. 11, 2011 - "Wired for Distraction?" - Like it or not, social media are reprogramming our children's brains. What's a good parent to do?

• USA Today - Feb 2, 2011 - "Social Media Users Grapple with Information Overload"

• The New York Times - a 7-part series called "Your Brain on Computers" looks at how a deluge of data can affect the way people think and behave.

In addition, a number of books have appeared that deal with the same topic. Here are some books I have recently read and can recommend:

• Hamlet's Blackberry by William Powers - "computers and mobile devices ... impose an enormous burden, making it harder for us to focus, do our best work, build strong relationships, and find the depth and fulfillment we crave."

• The Shallows: What The Internet is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas Carr.

• The Tyranny of Email: The Four Thousand Year Journey to Your Inbox by John Freeman.

• The Information: A History, A Flood, A Theory by James Gleick - I haven't read this one yet (it's just coming out), but the reviews were good and anything by James Gleick has to be great.

From the "statistics tell it all" department, here are few choice quotes taken from these books.

• "Studies of office workers who use computers reveal that they constantly stop what they're doing to read and respond to incoming e-mails. It's not unusual for them to glance at their inbox 30-40 times an hour (though when asked how frequently they look, they'll give an much lower figure)."

• "Web pages are viewed for ten seconds or less. Fewer than one in ten page views extend beyond two minutes, an a significant amount of those seem to involve 'unattended browser windows ... left open in the background of a desktop.'" (Weinreich H, et al, "Not Quite the Average: An Empirical Study of Web Use," ACM Trans Web, 2(1), 2008 as quoted in The Shallows, N. Carr, pg. 135.)

• "In 2009, it has been estimated, the average corporate worker will spend more than 40% of his or her day sending and receiving some 200 messages." (Radicati Group study from 2008)

• "Sixty five percent of North Americans spend more time with their computer than with their spouse." (Johnson, Steven, Interface Culture: How New Technology Transforms the Way We Create and Communicate, 1997; as quoted in The Tyranny of Email, J. Freeman, p. 95).

• "In 2006, one study found that the average U.S. office worker was interrupted 11 times an hour. The cost of these interruptions, in which email plays a large role, runs close to $600 billion in the U.S. alone." (Freeman, p. 140). [Note: I found another study that says this number is $650 billion for 2009].

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This topic is near and dear to my heart, so I would be happy to get recommendations about additional sources dealing with digital distraction, information overload, and their impact on the individual at work and at home.