Slashdot Mirror
Digital Devices Deprive Brain of Needed Downtime
siliconbits writes with an excerpt from NY Times: "Technology makes the tiniest windows of time entertaining, and potentially productive. But scientists point to an unanticipated side effect: when people keep their brains busy with digital input, they are forfeiting downtime that could allow them to better learn and remember information, or come up with new ideas."
If only most of us could do that, rather than having shitty pointy-haired micromanager bosses who insist on minute-by-minute "productivity" scales.
The day the 'worker productivity index' was invented was the day society started going to hell.
You know, cell phones have a very useful functionality: You can switch them off. The advantage of a switched-off cell phone vs. no cell phone is that you can quickly get a working cell phone in case you need one: Just switch it on. Moreover, you get great times between battery recharges this way.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
Perhaps the idea of the "seista" was right!
Have you fond that as you get older, you need more quite time to think than you did when you were younger? Do little distractions like email and IMs really cut into your productivity?
I'm 24 now. As I've grown out of my college years I've noticed this to be true. I can turn out more stuff (poetry, blog updates, electronic gizmos, whatever I'm working on) if I keep the instant messengers closed. I also like to have my door closed because my roomate has a bad habit of popping into my room to show me "the funniest thing ever" on Youtube which is usually a 10 second clip of someone injuring themselves. I don't really have the problem with music though. However, I do make a point to tune my internet radio station to a type of music that would make an appropriate soundtrack for whatever I am working on (for instance, if I am writing up a short story about a swordfight, the music would be some kind of kick-ass symphonic metal, or something similar). I do notice, however, that as I get older I have more of a tendency to turn on music and just stare at a wall while sipping a nice glass of whiskey. I used to always just think of music as appropriate background noise. These days I treat it almost like T.V., where I want to take the time to get lost in it.
Motorcycles, Robots, Space Gossip and More!
I use a slightly different mechanism: I turn the ringer to silent, and don't empty my voice mail. If I see you've called *and* I actually want to talk to you, I'll call you back.
The problem is, I loathe telephones. Typically, when the phone rings, it's because someone expects me to drop whatever I'm doing RIGHT NOW and attend to whatever it is they need. Worse, when I'm talking to people on the telephone, they tend to feel slighted if I don't give them my full and undivided attention. So if I'm at work trying to, you know, work, and my phone rings, the expectation is that I will immediately cease work to chat/be a chimney while they vent/solve the world's problems/whatever. Maybe I'm just a curmudgeon, but I find that rather irritating.
I much prefer text messages or e-mail, since I can look at it and get back to you when I actually have the CPU cycles to devote to whatever it is you need.
MCSE? No, sir...I don't do Windows. Yes, I am an idealist. What's your point?
#include <time.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#define kase(tipo,stmt) case(tipo):{stmt;break;}
char *a[10] = {
"in particular",
"on the other hand",
"however",
"similarly",
"in this regard",
"as a resultant implication",
"based on integral subsystem considerations",
"for example",
"thus",
"in respect to specific goals"},
*b[10] = {
"a large portion of the interface coordinated communication",
"a constant flow of effective information",
"the characterization of specific criteria",
"initiation of critical subsystem development",
"the fully integrated test program",
"the product configuration baseline",
"any associated supporting element",
"the incorporation of additional mission constraints",
"the independent functional principle",
"a primary interrelationship between system and/or subsystem technologies"},
*c[10] = {
"must utilize and be functionally interwoven with",
"maximizes the probability of project success and minimizes the cost and time required for",
"adds explicit performance limits to",
"necessitates that urgent consideration be applied to",
"requires considerable systems analysis and trade off studies to arrive at",
"is further compounded when taking into account",
"presents extremely interesting challenges to",
"recognizes the importance of other systems and the necessity for",
"effects a significant implementation of",
"adds overriding performance constraints to"},
*d[10] = { /* orders: abcd, dacb, bacd, adcb */
"the sophisticated hardware",
"the anticipated next generation equipment",
"the subsystem compatibility testing",
"the structural design based on system engineering concepts",
"the preliminary qualification limits",
"the evolution of specification over a given time period",
"the philosophy of commonality and standardization",
"the top-down development method",
"any discrete configuration mode",
"the total system rationale"};
main()
{
int n, order, w, x, y, z;
srand(time(NULL));
for (n = 0; n < 1000; n++)
{
if (!(n % 10)) printf("\n");
w = rand() % 10;
x = rand() % 10;
y = rand() % 10;
z = rand() % 10;
order = rand() % 4;
switch (order)
{
case 0:
printf(" %c%s, %s %s %s.", a[w][0] & 0xDF, a[w] + 1, b[x], c[y], d[z]);
break;
case 1:
printf(" %c%s, %s, %s %s.", d[w][0] & 0xDF, d[w] + 1, a[x], c[y], b[z]);
break;
case 2:
printf(" %c%s, %s, %s %s.", b[w][0] & 0xDF, b[w] + 1, a[x], c[y], d[z]);