Digital overload may be the defining problem of today’s workplace. All day and night, on desktops, laptops, tablets and smartphones, we’re bombarded with so many messages and alerts that even when we want to focus, it’s nearly impossible. And when we’re tempted to procrastinate, diversions are only a click away.
This culture of constant connection takes a toll both professionally and personally. We waste time, attention and energy on relatively unimportant information and interactions, staying busy but producing little of value.
Most people agree on the solution: Control the digital overload rather than letting it control you. But how, exactly, does one do that? We asked two experts: Larry Rosen, a psychologist, and Alexandra Samuel, a technologist. Taken together, their solutions offer a useful primer on how we can begin to tackle this huge and growing challenge.
TAKE A BREAK, SAYS PSYCHOLOGIST LARRY ROSEN
For the past few years, psychologists have been examining the recent dramatic changes in humans’ relationship to technology. Consider a study that my colleagues and I conducted in 2008 and replicated last year. We gave people in three age groups - Baby Boomers, Generation X and the Net Generation (born in the 1980s) - a list of 66 pairs of activities to find out which ones they typically did in tandem. Our questions included, “Do you go online and text simultaneously?” and “Do you email and eat at the same time?” In 2008, Baby Boomers responded yes for 59% of the pairs, on average; the numbers were 67% for Gen Xers and 75% for the Net Gen. In 2014 the percentages were higher - 67% for Baby Boomers, 70% for Gen X, and 81% for the Net Gen. Meanwhile, members of the iGeneration (born in the 1990s), whom we added to the second study, were engaging in an astonishing 87% of the paired activities.
The evidence shows that multitasking isn’t always successful: Doing two things well at the same time is possible only when at least one task is automatic. So, yes, you can walk and chew gum simultaneously. But check email while participating in a conference call? Look at your Facebook feed and still do meaningful work? Researchers have demonstrated that the mere presence of a phone makes people less productive and less trusting, and that students who are interrupted while studying take longer to learn the material and feel more stressed.
Why are we allowing ourselves to be so debilitated by technological distractions? Some people refer to the overuse of digital devices as an addiction. But since most of us don’t appear to gain much pleasure from the behavior - a defining feature of addiction - I wouldn’t classify it as such. More accurate are terms such as FOMO (fear of missing out), FOBO (fear of being offline) and nomophobia (fear of being out of mobile phone contact) - all forms of anxiety that border on obsession or compulsion.
In my lab, we’ve found that many people, regardless of age, check their smartphones every 15 minutes or less and become anxious if they aren’t allowed to do so. How do we calm the anxiety and thereby avoid the distraction?
First, use behavioral principles to wean yourself from your digital devices. Allow yourself to check all modes of electronic communication, but then shut everything down. Set an alarm for 15 minutes, and when it rings give yourself one minute for a tech check-in. Repeat this process until you are comfortable increasing your off-grid time to an hour or several hours.
A second strategy is inspired by the research of Nathaniel Kleitman, who established that our brains work in 90-minute rest-activity cycles not only when we sleep but also when we’re awake. So take a recharging break every hour and a half, especially if you’re multitasking with technology, which makes the brain overly active. Even a 10-minute walk in nature is enough to have a calming effect.
Finally, keep technology out of your bedroom. The aim is to block the release of neurotransmitters that energize your brain and instead promote the production of melatonin, which allows you to rest.
Although we turn to technology to soothe our anxieties, overdosing on it just exacerbates them. To break the cycle, we must limit the use of our devices. Only then can we regain our ability to focus.
FIGHT FIRE WITH FIRE, SAYS TECHNOLOGIST ALEXANDRA SAMUEL
Given all the ways that technology imposes demands on our time, we forget that digital tools are actually supposed to make our lives easier. And used correctly, they can. From my two decades researching how people use technology, I’ve learned that it’s not only possible to fight fire with fire - it’s essential.
The first step is to abandon the myth of “keeping up” - the belief that you will be able to process all your emails, read everything important in the media and send thoughtful posts to your networks without fail. Instead your goals should be to sort and limit the information you receive and to streamline reading and responding to what matters.
Email can be one of the biggest distractions. If you always have a backlog cluttering your inbox, or if you’re so diligent about replying to messages that you can’t seem to find time for the rest of your work, then automating at least part of the job offers huge benefits. Outlook, Gmail and most other major email tools will allow you to set rules and filters to ensure that only the most essential messages reach you right away. You can direct less urgent messages into other folders automatically and review those later.
When it comes to news consumption, automation offers the same rewards. Make the most relevant information come to you by using a newsreader app such as feedly (which works on both computers and mobile devices), Flipboard or Reeder. You can follow or subscribe to your favorite news sources, blogs and topic discussions to collect the most pertinent items all in one place. Then set aside specific times to read them.
What about your digital output? Liking, favoriting, and tweeting help to build your professional credibility and spark new relationships, but maintaining that online presence takes a lot of time.
Automate at least some of the work. Most newsreader applications offer one-click options for posting to Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. Tools like Hootsuite, Buffer or Social Inbox let you reach multiple networks from one place and schedule posts in advance. Once you’ve set up a system like this, you can create a week’s worth of updates in less than an hour.
Automation can’t eliminate digital distraction, but it can help you fight the battle. Email filters, newsreaders and other tools will help you focus on your most important tasks, at work or at home, online or off.
(Larry Rosen is a psychology professor at California State University, Dominguez Hills, and co-editor of “The Wiley Handbook of Psychology, Technology and Society.”Alexandra Samuel is an expert in online engagement and author of “Work Smarter with Social Media.”)