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Tame Your Gadgets Before They Take Over Your Life
Photo courtesy of Creative Commons
Featured Author:
Dr. Sherrie Bourg Carter
Dr. Sherrie Bourg Carter is CEO of her firm, Sherrie Bourg Carter, Psy.D., P.A., as well as partner and CEO of the Institute for Behavioral Sciences and the Law, a forensic psychology practice in Fort Lauderdale.
She currently is working on her newest book, The Dangers Lurking Above the Glass Ceiling: Anticipating, Recognizing, and Preventing Collapse Once You're on Top. The book focuses on high-achieving women and strategies they can use to effectively cope with the stressors in their hectic, overscheduled, and high-pressured lives. To learn more about Dr. Carter, visit her website High-AchievingWomen.com.
Dr. Sherrie Bourg Carter | Excelle
May 29, 2009
According to numerous studies, the effects that interruptions (yes, I know … how dare I defame those precious devices by calling them interruptions — please just keep reading!) have on our productivity and performance is pretty substantial.
First, researchers have found that although we “users” (that’s the nice term researchers use for instant communication addicts) believe we have control over when we choose to respond to an “alert” (e.g., beep, ding, vibration signaling that a message is waiting) and therefore see no need to disable these alerts. The truth is that we don’t have as much control as we think.
Often, the identity of the sender of the message (the intruder trying to access us while we’re working) and the content of the message influence if we respond, even if the alert comes in when we’re working on something important. In other words, we may have the best intentions of not letting anything distract us from what we’re doing, but those intentions often fall to the wayside depending on who’s on the other end of the communication and how interesting the communication is to us.
Secondly, researchers have found that once we divert our attention away from what we’re doing by responding to an alert, we rarely leave what we were working on in a manner that will make it easy to pick up where we left off (e.g., not saving the document, not marking our place, not completing a sentence before we break away). The effect is that it takes us longer to get back to where we were when we left off, and in some cases we actually lose the work because we didn’t save it and have to start all over again.
Thirdly, although we like to think we’re in control of how long we “wander away” and stay gone from a task when we respond to an alert, the reality is that we’re not. In fact, research has shown that we’re largely unaware of how much time we spend away from the project we were originally working on. In fact, when we break away from a project to respond to an alert, we often are drawn to other tasks or alerts unrelated to either the original alert and unrelated to what we were originally working on.
bpaula40
4 months ago
94 comments
Hi dr. Sherrie,
thanks for such a great article. Luckily for me, because of my situation (I am totally blind) alot of the communication gadgets haven't snared me yet. this isn't to say that there aren't blind people out there in the work force who aren't slaves to the ringers, buzzers and vibrators. I know a few of them personally (blind gadget junkies, i mean). But i haven't allowed myself to get too trapped in the gadget game and that's mostly because it's too difficult (to me) to pull off. the amount of energy i would have to expend in order to get said communication gadget to work with...say...my text to speach screen reader versus the joy of using said communication gadget don't add up for me. also, the cost of some of the devices created for the blind so that we, too, can be electronically "hooked up" are just ridiculous. I like to keep it cheap and simple. I set aside some time (at most three times a day) to read emails. I use a very basic cell phone and service (no text messages, movies, camera, etc) I will, however, have to be available to anser my celly when on the job because i am a Massage Therapist and i have to respond to my clients and potential clients ASAP. so this article just helped to reinforce for me that i'm on the right track with the whole gadget thing. Especially since i am a gadget junkie. I am proud to say i am in recovery.
roma
4 months ago
10 comments
Hi Dr. Sherrie! Thanks for adding and viewing my profile. I liked your article a lot, and I admire people who love to write. I'm guilty too. Sometimes, I was thinking of not using cellphone anymore, but I can't. All I can do is to put my gadgets to silent mode. Thank you for writing such a great article like this. I'm sure you did a great job, and you awaken thousands of gadgets user's mind out there. Please continue what you're doing. May God bless you!
EmmaM8445
4 months ago
4 comments
I was just waiting for an article like this. Thank you for writing it!
brenda2c
4 months ago
4 comments
Great article. I'm guilty. I tried a couple of days to turn my cell phone off so I could work and it didn't work. They called me on the land line. It does take time to get back into the mode of what you were doing and (when you get interrupted again) the cycle continues and it's the end of the day and you have very little to show for it. Some days I just want to throw my cell phone as far as I can.
My husband and I laugh about our two youngest children. If they can't reach us by one phone they call another phone and then another phone till they make contact. I sometimes wonder what they would do if cell phones did not exist.
Answering machine were made to use and people will not use them. They call you till you answer the phone and if they can't reach you on one number they call another number. I don't like answering machine but we all need to realize that whoever we are calling my be busy and they will call us back as soon as they are able. If you leave a message.
Coach777
4 months ago
104 comments
Its really funny Sherrie... I'm that way with emails!! I am addicted to go see what was written next! And just last week I decided to at least take one day for me, go do something comlpletely different and keep it OFF for the entire day and ya know what? It was so refreshing... thanks for your article, wonderful
StormKnight
5 months ago
134 comments
Sherrie: Once again you've done an outstanding job. My friends daughter just did a "story" on headphones and ear damage for her high school paper. It, like your article was fantastic and informative! I did the math and I suppose if I round up I'm guilty of about 400 minutes of interruption. (ha) Texting is my biggest issue. I text waaaay too much.
popeteresa
5 months ago
12 comments
thank you for adding me to your list,I AM NEW AT THIS I really don't do that much typing but I shall try, I TOO WOULD LIKE TO WRITE AN BOOK ABOUT MY EXPERIENCE AT MY LAST JOB PERHASE YOU COULD GIVE ME SOME ADVICE. THANK YOU TERESA
VanessaAWilliams
5 months ago
342 comments
Thank goodness, I use them when necessary, but can very easily ignore them. Being at the constant beck and call of a machine or device is not my cup of tea.
PossibilityCoachTM
5 months ago
712 comments
Thanks for the research info. Focusing is important to do good work. It also gives space to be more creative. I do put the mute on when I am on phone with clients as well when writing articles. It makes a big difference in the quality and performance. Multi-tasking to me is best when doing something like washing dishes and watching television!
kerrysnetwork
5 months ago
200 comments
Good points, It's hard enough working out of the home, you are always tempted to continue working, I think gadgets create the same situation for you and it can get out of control.
Account Removed
5 months ago
Great Article! It works at home too..we tend to let our phone at home go to the answering machine because we mostly use our cells so any evening calls are usually someone trying to sell us something. It takes a few times to get used to, but it is empowering to "choose" whether to answer the phone or not.
Account Removed
5 months ago
Great article! Good point! I have to admit, I am addicted. Each time I get an e-mail, SMS, IM, whatever I jump to see who wrote me and about what matter. Some discipline wouldn't hurt though. But it is kind of hard these days when staying connected means so much. Sometimes I am afraid that if I do not respond I might loose something important, but it seems I loose something anyway :) .... and time is so precious and can never be brought back.
AJaneChambers
5 months ago
440 comments
Sometimes I'm looking for something to take me away from the task/project at hand, so old-fashioned procrastination is also a problem for me - I just have new ways of procrastinating.
KeriKSilk
5 months ago
10 comments
Too true for comfort!! I'll try and follow the advice but it's the curiosity that gets me. Maybe I need a support group for the gadget addicted!