Interruptions & Technology

[tim@taskwise]

With so many interruptions coming at us throughout the course of an average day-messages, email, phone calls, tweets, flashing banners, and on and on-how can we possible stay focused?

Think about these statistics:

•We see more advertisements in one year than people of 50 years ago encountered in their entire lifetime. In 1971, the average American saw 560 advertisements per day. Today, we see around 3,000 advertisements each day-and encounter about 5,000 more messages from phones, emails, IM's, wall posts, tweets and more.

•According to Internet monitoring company Pingdom, Twitter users send an average 27.3 million tweets per day, resulting in an annual 10 billion tweets.

•Also from Pingdom: worldwide, an average 247 billion email messages are sent every day.

•More than 1 billion instant messages a day are sent via Facebook alone!

•The human mind has 60,000 thoughts per day. In 1971, distractions controlled not even 1% of our minds (i.e., thoughts); today, advertisements and other distractions control 13.33% of our minds.

Chances are at least even that you've recently talked with friends and family about problems involving lack of time, a decreased ability to concentrate, a rising feeling that you just can't get it all done. I know I've had plenty of conversations like that, and I'm having them more frequently. I've always been a busy person, but the concept of "busy" changed its pace a couple of years ago.

Now, almost everybody I know is constantly racing to keep up with commitments. In the process, many seem to be giving up time they used to spend reading, indulging in creative (and creatively restorative!) hobbies, day-dreaming, chit-chatting about nothing, exercising...

But is there really anything we can do about the killer pace of modern life?

[twinscythe12332]

classify everything by importance. if twitter and facebook are at the top of the list, I guess there's a problem

[Dreyer Smit]

Social media is taking a huge chunk of our lives. Being an online retailer, online social media is an integral part of my daily life.
But in most cases people choose social media over their other tasks as going on Facebook counts as 'down time' for most people from their hectic busy schedule...and then they end up spending hours on there.

Hobbies and reading have been replaced by Farmville and Twitter. And like normal hobbies, it could affect your work. Facebook is not just a tool to communicate, it has become an obsession...and you can't deny that.

Disable your profile for a week, and I bet you'll have some sort of withdrawal symptoms.

[Dave A]

It's not just adverts. Add texting and IM - people are doing that while they're working, let alone in "spare time."

Maybe ad blindness is becoming a desirable survival technique?

[Martinco]

Hey guys................and what about the time WE spend on TFSA ?

Well.....at least it is educational.

[tim@taskwise]

Thanks for the feedback..

[adrianh]

But is there really anything we can do about the killer pace of modern life?

You are not forced to take part in the race, it is your choice.

[tim@taskwise]

There's that little matter of my JOB that demands I speak to and reply by email to my clients.

[adrianh]

I am always amazed how people blame outside factors for their circumstance.

Nothing demands anything of you - you choose your life. You can live on a farm or be a traffic controller - it is your choice.

[Dave A]

Personally, I think twinscythe nailed it - prioritise.

Hey guys................and what about the time WE spend on TFSA ?

I could be glib and say "time well invested" (and I believe it is), but even as committed to this site as I am, I still put a time budget on TFSA. If I haven't got through everything in the time I've allowed, what's left waits for the next time slot.

[Cathy Duncan]

With so many interruptions coming at us throughout the course of an average day-messages, email, phone calls, tweets, flashing banners, and on and on-how can we possible stay focused?

Think about these statistics:

•We see more advertisements in one year than people of 50 years ago encountered in their entire lifetime. In 1971, the average American saw 560 advertisements per day. Today, we see around 3,000 advertisements each day-and encounter about 5,000 more messages from phones, emails, IM's, wall posts, tweets and more.

•According to Internet monitoring company Pingdom, Twitter users send an average 27.3 million tweets per day, resulting in an annual 10 billion tweets.

•Also from Pingdom: worldwide, an average 247 billion email messages are sent every day.

•More than 1 billion instant messages a day are sent via Facebook alone!

•The human mind has 60,000 thoughts per day. In 1971, distractions controlled not even 1% of our minds (i.e., thoughts); today, advertisements and other distractions control 13.33% of our minds.

Chances are at least even that you've recently talked with friends and family about problems involving lack of time, a decreased ability to concentrate, a rising feeling that you just can't get it all done. I know I've had plenty of conversations like that, and I'm having them more frequently. I've always been a busy person, but the concept of "busy" changed its pace a couple of years ago.

Now, almost everybody I know is constantly racing to keep up with commitments. In the process, many seem to be giving up time they used to spend reading, indulging in creative (and creatively restorative!) hobbies, day-dreaming, chit-chatting about nothing, exercising...

But is there really anything we can do about the killer pace of modern life?

I was down too some time ago...I don't know how but things managed for me and i isolated myself A bit and looked at life by the meaning of an ordered
perspective...i put the significant ahead and did not sweat about past gone things and statistics....it is circle of life cope with and you will survive resist and time leaves you behind

[Justloadit]

I call it synchronous interruptions and asynchronous action.

Synchronous is when you are interrupted doing what ever you are doing, and process the interruption. In other words you have no control of when it is going to happen, all you know is that it is going to happen. This is like a customer visiting you at your office with out an appointment, or a telephone call.

Asynchronous action, is when I allocate time to a task that I am going to do, for instance, read an email, and process the request. This is done at my time. This I have found is when I am at most creative, as I have time to ponder on the information at hand.

Personally I try and work in an asynchronous environment, but am not always successful, as there always seems to be a crises waiting around the corner.