Distracted, Deluged, Always On?

Just came across Google fastflip had an interesting article from Fast Company. Do you increasingly feel you are distracted because you are consuming enormous data on computer(s) and mobile phone(s) while not paying attention to any onething totally? There was also bigger story on raido a few weeks back about how being always-on is affecting relationships, jobs, health, etc.

Right now I have only like 100 tabs together in three different browsers and reading messages on my phone. How do you find the safe medium betweeen "doing nothing" and "doing several different things at the same time?"

P.S.: Ironic that if I did nothing and was not reading google news, I wouldn't have found the article -- of all the things, from FAST company -- in the first place.

Find more posts tagged with

Free for TechExams community: Cybersecurity salary guide

Compare cert salaries and plan your next career move

Button

Comments

Turgon

certhelp wrote: »

Just came across Google fastflip had an interesting article from Fast Company. Do you increasingly feel you are distracted because you are consuming enormous data on computer(s) and mobile phone(s) while not paying attention to any onething totally? There was also bigger story on raido a few weeks back about how being always-on is affecting relationships, jobs, health, etc.

Right now I have only like 100 tabs together in three different browsers and reading messages on my phone. How do you find the safe medium betweeen "doing nothing" and "doing several different things at the same time?"

P.S.: Ironic that if I did nothing and was not reading google news, I wouldn't have found the article -- of all the things, from FAST company -- in the first place.

I think it's common sense isn't it that these things can lead to problems. Back in 1994 a student friend of mine who was hot off the press from completing his Masters degree in IT warned of the problem from his own personal experience. He was necessarily spending many hours in front of the computer completing work to hand in only to turn to people and talk complete rubbish. It was, as he put it 'bad for your social skills'.

People are far too plugged in today and its affecting behavior and health. Conversational skills and concentration skills are atrophing. People cant sit still. Try some exercise, get out the house, be with people more and develop the skill of silence and listening. It makes for smarter, happier and more well adjusted people.

Back in 2003 I visited a nightclub that people had paid good money to enter and had queued to get into. Only for everyone to disappear to corners inside to use their mobile phones to text people. Same in pubs. We used to converse, now the mobiles all sit on the table along with the pints.

It's not healthy.

DevilWAH

My mobile is always on silent never have it on sound I dont like to be ruled by my phone.

Also I don't go in search of info unless i need to find out some thing. I read a few tec mags and science magazines, so keep up to date with what is happening.

I have Newsmap as my home page that highlights any big stories in the news when I open my Browser.

And I usulay jsut get stuck in to one or two things at a time. Right now I am in a C# mode, so dediating my (own) time on the web to reserching this. and pulling back form other things.

I have covered a lot of topics in my time, and came to relised that while I can't know every thing about every thing (how i wish it was possible), I can learn a lot about a smaller number of things.

I would say I spend about 10% of time on the net/phone/tv/radio doing generaly browsing around no specifice purpose in mind, and 90% planed, such as watching a documentory, taking to a friend, researching a specifice topic.

But my phone and pc stay on my desk, when I walk away from my desk I walk away from tecnology.

hex_omega

I am constantly distracted because I have ADD.

veritas_libertas

This is something that I've only recently started to really deal with. The Blackberry really doesn't help, but I need to be able to take any emergency calls from work.

DevilWAH

hex_omega wrote: »

I am constantly distracted because I have ADD.

Just have to be very strict with your self.

At work I have "work time" "lunch time" favriots, and over time I have learnt to make it a habbit to not ramble during work hours.

Same reason I keep PC at home (laptop) in a single place in the house, and unless i am using phone it is on shelf on silent.

If i had my way I would spend my whole live wired in to the net tumbling from one thing to the next letting my self get swepted away by it all

So by putting things out of hand, I prevent the initial fork that use to lead me down hours of distractions.

I save up my ADD sessions for night time, then focus it on a good 2 or 3 hours of letting my mind run free. So like I say I am learning C# at the moment. what started as a simple project is slowly growing in complextly and size as i get destracted as I search for answers and come aross new and different way/things I can do.

Getting distracted and losing track while learning / studying often has the bonus of giving you a might wider and full view of the subject. you might take a bit longer to learn a topic but you will now it in much more depth.

Jsut need to know when to reign it in and when to let it go.

tpatt100

I need to construct an isolation chamber with a Pc that only let's me use Microsoft Office and winamp.

Panzer919

tpatt100 wrote: »

I need to construct an isolation chamber with a Pc that only let's me use Microsoft Office and winamp.

yeah but then you would get frustrated and just hack your way into everything else

DevilWAH

Panzer919 wrote: »

yeah but then you would get frustrated and just hack your way into everything else

Yer but think how much you would learn

MickQ

Interestingly enough, I found I was having those exact problems. Too much going on, constantly being bugged for things, phone hopping, etc. The main problem I had was being able to wind down at night and go straight to sleep.
I still have the "so much going on", but for me, it's manageable by having the will and determination to concentrate on those things, and then take a break. If it's a big problem, I'll work on it for a while, then take a 5 or 10 minute break, and return to it.
For me, the phone is the biggest problem. I'm self-employed and can't turn it off (contractually). The days I get to hand it over to someone else are holidays and I can forget about things.
Now, I love getting to sit down and eat dinner (my lunch) alone (ok, friends passing by sit with me) for a while, then meeting a friend or two and having a laugh together and moan about [topic].

Each to their own, I guess.