The biggest impediment to concentration is your computer’s ecosystem of interruption technologies: IM, email alerts, RSS alerts, Skype rings, etc. Anything that requires you to wait for a response, even subconsciously, occupies your attention. Anything that leaps up on your screen to announce something new, occupies your attention. … By all means, schedule a chat — voice, text, or video — when it’s needed, but leaving your IM running is like sitting down to work after hanging a giant “DISTRACT ME” sign over your desk, one that shines brightly enough to be seen by the entire world.
Cory Doctorow: Writing in the Age of Distraction
(thank you jon)
True. This reminds of an old article you posted. One reader complained you wrote too many articles in a day and I admit I found your update frequency high too. But I had – and have – my RSS reader open al the time (and set to update every 30 minutes). Same with Twitter. It really does distract me, but it’s so addictive!
Jan 14th, 2009 / 11:33 am
Couldn’t you say the same about a phone?
“Anything that requires you to wait for a response” …leaving a message
“Anything that leaps up” …ring Ring RING!!
Jan 14th, 2009 / 1:17 pm