Multitasking
Jon Udell says out loud what many of us experience while working with computers:
Computers multitask way better than people can. As we perform the intellectual work that powers the information economy, our ability to achieve focus and flow is constantly challenged by distraction and interruption.
The paradox, of course, is that interruptions are vital, too
Distraction is a huge problem. I noticed I am getting less and less productive because of interruptions, so I:
• don’t leave my email open all the time. I check it – for 5-10 minutes sessions – every 2-3 hours or so.
• shut down instant messaging when I need to focus on something.
• use SpiritedAway to automatically hide inactive windows
I believe this is a key issue for the future of computing, making our applications cope with the reality of our brains. Computers should better reproduce our offline work environments.
July 27th, 2006 at 12:26 pm
See also: Continuous Partial Attention
We pay continuous partial attention in an effort NOT TO MISS ANYTHING. It is an always-on, anywhere, anytime, any place behavior that involves an artificial sense of constant crisis. We are always in high alert when we pay continuous partial attention. This artificial sense of constant crisis is more typical of continuous partial attention than it is of multi-tasking.
July 27th, 2006 at 12:26 pm
See also: Continuous Partial Attention
We pay continuous partial attention in an effort NOT TO MISS ANYTHING. It is an always-on, anywhere, anytime, any place behavior that involves an artificial sense of constant crisis. We are always in high alert when we pay continuous partial attention. This artificial sense of constant crisis is more typical of continuous partial attention than it is of multi-tasking.