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Why Your Devices Are Probably Eroding Your Productivity (kqed.org)
University of California, San Francisco neuroscientist Adam Gazzaley and California State University, Dominguez Hills professor emeritus Larry Rosen explain in their book "The Distracted Mind: Ancient Brains in a High Tech World" why people have trouble multitasking, and specifically why one's productivity output is lowered when keeping up with emails, for example. Lesley McClurg writes via KQED Science: When you engage in one task at a time, the prefrontal cortex works in harmony with other parts of the brain, but when you toss in another task it forces the left and right sides of the brain to work independently. The process of splitting our attention usually leads to mistakes. In other words, each time our eyes glance away from our computer monitor to sneak a peak at a text message, the brain takes in new information, which reduces our primary focus. We think the mind can juggle two or three activities successfully at once, but Gazzaley says we woefully overestimate our ability to multitask. In regard to answering emails, McClurg writes: Gazzaley stresses that our tendency to respond immediately to emails and texts hinders high-level thinking. If you're working on a project and you stop to answer an email, the research shows, it will take you nearly a half-hour to get back on task. "When a focused stream of thought is interrupted it needs to be reset," explains Gazzaley. "You can't just press a button and switch back to it. You have to re-engage those thought processes, and recreate all the elements of what you were engaged in. That takes time, and frequently one interruption leads to another." In other words, repetitively switching tasks lowers performance and productivity because your brain can only fully and efficiently focus on one thing at a time. Plus, mounting evidence shows that multitasking could impair the brain's cognitive abilities. Stanford researchers studied the minds of people who regularly engage in several digital communication streams at once. They found that high-tech jugglers struggle to pay attention, recall information, or complete one task at a time. And the habit of multitasking could lower your score on an IQ test, according to researchers at the University of London. The saving grace is that we don't need to ditch technology as "there's a time and place for multitasking," according to Gazzaley. "If you're in the midst of a mundane task that just has to get done, it's probably not detrimental to have your phone nearby or a bunch of tabs open. The distractions may reduce boredom and help you stay engaged. But if you're finishing a business plan, or a high-level writing project, then it's a good idea to set yourself up to stay focused."
"People can't multitask" because reasons.
I find that after a couple of hours at a task I welcome a break whether it be to grab a cup of hot chocolate, I don't drink coffee, chat with a colleague, answer the phone or check the email's, or glance at Amazon, or https://soylentnews.org/ , or even this place.
errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
I get the flow. I like being in the flow, I get stuff done. When I'm in the flow human contact throws me out, but I can deal with email or text messages.
I don't have a facebook account, nor a linked in account, nor any other social media. When I'm in the flow I don't use WWW, unless it's to look up the interface to SomeAPII'veNeverUsedBefore(). When I'm in the flow I'm typically taken out of it by some dumass manager who couldn't manage their way to the coffee machine without help, or my CD (on a USB stick) ends and I realize I need to stretch, pee, and get more coffee, in that order. If you don't realize social media fucks up your productivity, you're an idiot. Pure and simple, you're a fucking idiot.
CSB
Had a manager some 15 years ago. She was a micro-manager. She couldn't keep track of what anyone was working on at any given time. She would drop into my office to ask the stupidest questions. Finally got her to send email instead of bugging me. She would send me email, then show up in my office as I was replying to it to ask "did you get my email?".
She was a hella nice woman, bad engineer (we "co-wrote" some Linux device drivers, she sucked at it), and a horrendous manager.
I find that it is good to take mini breaks to freshen the mind, especially if you are stuck in a "thinking rut". YMMV...
This is my sig, there are many like it but this one is mine
The article's links seem to have better real experimental data backing them up, but I still think I prefer reading http://www.joelonsoftware.com/'s 15 year old article "Human Task Switches Considered Harmful". The second half of "Where do These People Get Their (Unoriginal) Ideas?" is also relevant.
In the last few years he has posted much less often, and when he posts, it is usually only announcing the latest product his company has made, but most of his older "reading list" articles (from the front page) are still excellent.
Remember getting in the zone when coding and then that moron would come up to you then talk about their car, lawn or how their daughter was attending a private school and other mundane information I don't want to know.
They're the people that think multitasking is something more than a bullshit buzzword to be thrown around as a criticism of people who are able to concentrate on the task at hand. I doubt they would feel the same way if they were told to cross a busy road and only look at their phone while they did.
My ism, it's full of beliefs.
Trump, really, go get some sleep. You've got to stop posting whatever happens to cross your mind in the middle of the night.
Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
...one's productivity output is lowered when keeping up with emails,
I've known this for years. That's why I rarely check email, and just let it sit in the inbox until the person calls me the following week asking if I got their message.
If you think I voted for Trump because of this post, you're wrong. I voted for Dr. Jill Stein of the Green Party. Again.
I agree with your core concept, but suggest an adjustment: "in the wilds" the breadth of inputs that matter is narrow and is all part of the purpose at hand. I would compare to the multitasking level of sports activities. A primitive chasing after a hunted animal (comparable to a running football play) requires enough breadth of attention to track the target (receiver/defender), continue running while weaving to avoid stepping on a rock / in a hole, and manipulate a tool or weapon, all of which further the progress of the activity. However, it does NOT involve a phone call from another hunt site asking for details about a hunt for a different kind of animal that occurred months ago, nor does it involve a spreadsheet of plans for hunts in the future.
My favourite touch is the two giant call-outs in the linked article.
Few of the sites I read regularly have these any more (meaning since I got good at "inspect element" and custom User CSS overrides; appears I've accumulated 150 of these over the past three years, also used to defeat anything that hovers or slides annoyingly).