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I've been working steadily for hours but I feel like I haven't even started. My attention is being diverted from the assigned task (writing this story) by a myriad of work interruptions that I believe are necessary. (Okay, a couple were my cat's, who also firmly believes in the need for it.)
My kids and I call days like this “squirrel days” after Dug, the talking dog in (squirrel!!) the 2009 Pixar film “Up,” who (squirrel!!) I was constantly distracted by, well, almost (squirrel!). !!)…
Unfortunately, many of us are having “squirrel” days, according to Dr. Gloria Mark, a computer science professor at the University of California, Irvine, who studies how digital media affects our lives. In her book “Attention Span: An Innovative Way to Restore Balance, Happiness, and Productivity,” Mark explains how decades of research has tracked the decline in attention span.
“In 2004, we measured the average attention span on a screen at 2½ minutes,” Mark said. “A few years later, we discovered that the attention span was about 75 seconds. “Now we found that people can only pay attention to a screen for an average of 47 seconds.”
Not only do people focus for less than a minute on any screen, Mark said, but when their attention is diverted from an active work project, it takes them about 25 minutes to refocus on that task. (Hope for??)
“In fact, our research shows that it takes 25 minutes and 26 seconds before we return to the original work or project sphere,” Mark said.
How can it be? “If we look at work in terms of switching projects, as opposed to the micro view of screen switching, we find that people spend about 10 and a half minutes on any work project before being interrupted (internally or by someone else). and then they switch to another work project. ”Marcos said.
Yes, but then we return to the original work, right? Bad, Mark said. Instead, when we get interrupted on project two, we switch once again to a different task: call it project three. Incredibly, his research has shown that we also get interrupted on project three and move on to project four.
“And then you go back and pick up the original interrupted project,” Mark said. “But it's not like they interrupt you and you don't do anything. For more than 25 minutes, you're actually working on other things.”
(At least I can tell my boss that when I miss my deadline.)
“However, there is also a cost of change,” Mark added. “The cost of a change is the time it takes you to reorient yourself back to your job: 'Where was I?' What was I thinking? That extra effort can also lead to mistakes and stress.”
Why is all this a problem? After all, it's called multitasking and many consider it a highly valued skill for coping with the demands of the information age.
“With the exception of a few individuals, there is no such thing as multitasking,” Mark said. “Unless one of the tasks is automatic, like chewing gum or walking, you can't do two effortful things at the same time.”
For example, he said, you can't read email and be on a video conference. When you focus on one thing, you lose the other. “You're actually switching your attention very quickly between the two,” Mark said. “And when you shift your attention quickly, it correlates with stress.”
Blood pressure increases. The heart rate accelerates. Psychological measures of stress also show negative results, she said, such as more fatigue and errors and less productivity: “The more people multitask, the more mistakes they make.”
Who did this to us? Of course, we did this with the help of technological culprits like social media, tablets and television. But Mark blames email more.
“For me, email is probably the worst because it has become a symbol of work,” he said, adding that his research has found a direct correlation between email and more stress.
“We cut off email to some workers at one organization during a work week,” he said. “By using heart rate monitors, we found that they became much less stressed and could concentrate much longer.”
(I stop to look for flights to Bora Bora. Oh, right. They have email there too.)
“There is no way a person can completely disconnect from technology and work in today's world,” Mark said. “So let's learn to live with it in a way that keeps our well-being positive.”
Regaining focus requires one to be mindful of how one uses technology, Mark said, a daunting task considering the average American spends at least 10 hours a day in front of screens.
Paradoxically, technology can be used to help, he said. Schedule memory work for the first part of the day when you're not fully alert, then use technology to block out distractions when you're at your mental best. At night, offload tasks from your brain by writing them down and then save the list.
Distracted by social networking sites? Hide them, Mark said: “Remove icons from your desktop and bury your phone apps inside folders, where it takes extra effort to find them. Leave your phone in another room or put it in a drawer and lock it.”
It's also important to know when to take a break. “If you have to read something more than once or if the words just don't register, it's time to stop and make up,” she said.
The best break is a walk in nature: “A 20-minute walk in nature can help people relax significantly,” says Mark. “And we found that it can help people produce many more ideas; it's called divergent thinking.”
Too cold to walk outside? Do something engaging that requires no mental effort.
“I have a friend who is a professor at MIT and his favorite activity is matching socks,” Mark said. “Another friend likes to iron. Ideas can be incubated and then we go back to the hard work and see it with fresh eyes.”
