Are you addicted to your smart phone, computer, e-reader, email account, iPod or Facebook? Everywhere you look, there is a new tool to get things done. But, being too connected can increase stress and lower productivity.
Technology is everywhere, and for most of us, it is a major part of our lives. Whether we are connected for work, or staying connected to further our job search or just to keep up with family and friends, we spend every free moment connecting with hand held devices and jumping to check out every ding, swish, beep or vibration. Each time we hear an alert, we have to stop everything in order to find out what the new alert is for. Even if the sound is coming from someone else's device.
I'm no different. I have a laptop, iPhone, iPod and a Kindle that follow me around almost everywhere I go. I am not so quick to jump for alerts, but I have some friends who will risk injury just to get to their device as soon as possible. Even still, I will freely admit that I am a connection junkie.
The problem is that these devices were created to make our lives easier, but most of the time, they really don't. For example, I used to always be on the go. All I needed for a whole day out was my purse. Now, I am tugging a backpack with all of my devices, just in case. I used to hate how bank lines all had televisions to keep people happy while waiting for, on average, 5 minutes. Why can't we just be quiet with ourselves, I used to ask. Now, I know the answer, television just isn't my drug of choice.
There are several myths about technology that shape our desire to get connected and stay connected. According to an article at Psychology Today, there are many fallacies that help us stay addicted. Here are a few of them:
- We have control. We can chose when and how we connect – Since we think that we have control over deciding when to respond, we never turn off these alerts, just in case. It seems that even if we chose not to respond to a message, we still have to check and then decide if we want to respond. Whether we ultimately do or not is irrelevant, it is the interruption that counts.
- Being able to connect with people in real time makes us more productive – According to the report, interruptions have a huge effect on our productivity and performance. When we stop what we are doing because of an alert, we rarely leave off in a place where it is easy to pick back up. Often, the interruption causes us to get sidetracked and end up doing several other things before getting back on task.
- These interruptions don't really take that much time away from our work – Yeah, yeah they do. Breaking away from a task to check out an alert and deciding not to respond may only take a minute, but it takes twice as long to get back to speed productivity-wise.
- Interruptions don't affect our work pattern – Any type of interruptions, whether technology based or not will affect our pace and cause us to work faster to catch up, causing more mistakes and lower quality end result.
Being realistic about the impact that these sorts of interruptions are having on your work is the first step to overcoming them. When I work, I have started turning off my phone, messengers and logging out of my email account and Facebook. This takes away the temptation to “take a quick break” or “just do a quick email check”. Assigning regular breaks to access technology insured that I will leave off working in a place that is easier to pick back up from, and help lessen some of these problems.
Are you a technology addict? What impact has being connected had on your work progress? Let me know in the comments.
If you are looking for a job in Logistics, visit LogisticsJobsite for the best Logistics job listings.
By Melissa Kennedy- Melissa is a 9 year blog veteran and a freelance writer for LogisticsJobsiteBlog, along with helping others find the job of their dreams, she enjoys computer geekery, raising a teenager, supporting her local library, writing about herself in the third person and working on her next novel.
Become a member to take advantage of more features, like commenting and voting.
Register or sign in today!