Digital Distractions Survey: Feedback From The Field

Last week, I wrote about an industry survey commissioned by social email software vendor, harmon.ie that looked at the impact of (digital) distractions at work. The survey results generated a strong response, getting coverage in the mainstream press such as the USA Today, Wall Street Journal, the BBC, CBC, as well as online sites such as Mashable. It generated a debate on CNBC last week about whether people are genuinely distracted or whether distractions are a generational problem; affecting older people who find it hard to multi-task. (On a side note, I find it hard to believe that people actually believe that younger people are really effectively multi-tasking. This has been debunked by scientists who looked at people's ability to retain and analyze 'multi-tasked' information, and found ... they couldn't).

What I found most profound about the survey feedback was the recurring idea that digital distractions are somehow the modern form of hanging around the water cooler. The argument goes, 'people can't be productive 100% of the time; they need to have some downtime. Yesterday, it was talking with friends, today it is connecting with people on Facebook. Why is it that we ignore the huge productivity gains offered by new digital tools by focusing on the small amount of wasted time they generate? The net result is still hugely positive.'

This totally misses the point. The water cooler is a controlled interruption. You choose to participate or you don't. If you have a deadline, you can close the door and hunker down. On the other hand, when you trying to work on a document but you need to toggle through 9 different screens to share it with a colleague, there is no alternative; these 'interruptions' are an inherent part of the work process. Alternatively, when you are continuously interrupted by new email messages or tweets popping up on your screen, can you effectively shut this off, so that you can focus on work? Not many of us do. And it is the impact of these interruptions that is particularly pernicious. These interruptions cost businesses lots of money; far more than the actual time lost to inefficiencies. People struggle to recover from these interruptions; recovery times are long relative to the length of the interruption. Frustration is high. People get tired and can't focus.

While information overload is not a new problem, a lot of people are talking about it today. I provided a list of some good sources a few weeks ago. One researcher I didn't mention but who has written extensively about information overload and its impact, is David M Levy from the University of Washington. Everything I have read by him is highly recommended. Check out a video of a excellent talk he gave at Google several years ago, entitled "No Time To Think."

Back to the survey ... one important take away is that new technology often brings unexpected consequences. For example, just because we can work anytime, anywhere, doesn't mean we should. Do we really want to be texting in bed or at the theater? Our inability to shut down has organizational, social, and personal repercussions. Should we accept the need to have 10 windows open to complete a simple business task because 'that's the way it works,' or do we need to take a critical look at even our best productivity tools?

I am interested in hearing your opinion. Weigh in with comments or email.

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Disclaimer: The study was commissioned by social email provider harmon.ie (pronounced 'harmony'), (www.harmon.ie) where the author of this post is an executive.