Digital Devices Deprive Brain of Needed Downtime 222
siliconbits writes with an excerpt from NY Times: "Technology makes the tiniest windows of time entertaining, and potentially productive. But scientists point to an unanticipated side effect: when people keep their brains busy with digital input, they are forfeiting downtime that could allow them to better learn and remember information, or come up with new ideas."
Re:I take several short naps a day (Score:5, Insightful)
If only most of us could do that, rather than having shitty pointy-haired micromanager bosses who insist on minute-by-minute "productivity" scales.
The day the 'worker productivity index' was invented was the day society started going to hell.
Re:Instant distractions (Score:2, Insightful)
Nah - it's real friends. They care enough to be reliable, know the contingencies, and not be offended if something crazy happens.
Re:Instant distractions (Score:1, Insightful)
Possibly busy waiting for someone who had a last minute problem and could not contact you to cancel.
*People ask don't you get distracted by your mobile - I tell them it's a little secret called the off button.
Re:Instant distractions (Score:4, Insightful)
You know, cell phones have a very useful functionality: You can switch them off. The advantage of a switched-off cell phone vs. no cell phone is that you can quickly get a working cell phone in case you need one: Just switch it on. Moreover, you get great times between battery recharges this way.
Re:More than that (Score:2, Insightful)
Maybe that is why my work gave me this nice laptop with all the blue LEDs on the touch bar...
On a more serious note though, I do have to agree with you. I spent a week on the beach in OBX with the family, didn't take my laptop, had my phone with me but left it in the house we rented, just kicked back and listened to the ocean with a beer in my hand. I felt a million times better after that, so I definitely agree that it's a good idea to just get away from technology completely ever so often.
Sometimes even small breaks can help, like taking the kids to the pool for the day, going out and flying kites, or anything else just to get out of the house and away from the noise.
Re:I take several short naps a day (Score:5, Insightful)
Perhaps the idea of the "seista" was right!
Re:Going for a run or a ride... (Score:4, Insightful)
Have you fond that as you get older, you need more quite time to think than you did when you were younger? Do little distractions like email and IMs really cut into your productivity?
I'm 24 now. As I've grown out of my college years I've noticed this to be true. I can turn out more stuff (poetry, blog updates, electronic gizmos, whatever I'm working on) if I keep the instant messengers closed. I also like to have my door closed because my roomate has a bad habit of popping into my room to show me "the funniest thing ever" on Youtube which is usually a 10 second clip of someone injuring themselves. I don't really have the problem with music though. However, I do make a point to tune my internet radio station to a type of music that would make an appropriate soundtrack for whatever I am working on (for instance, if I am writing up a short story about a swordfight, the music would be some kind of kick-ass symphonic metal, or something similar). I do notice, however, that as I get older I have more of a tendency to turn on music and just stare at a wall while sipping a nice glass of whiskey. I used to always just think of music as appropriate background noise. These days I treat it almost like T.V., where I want to take the time to get lost in it.
Re:Instant distractions (Score:4, Insightful)
The problem is, I loathe telephones. Typically, when the phone rings, it's because someone expects me to drop whatever I'm doing RIGHT NOW and attend to whatever it is they need. Worse, when I'm talking to people on the telephone, they tend to feel slighted if I don't give them my full and undivided attention. So if I'm at work trying to, you know, work, and my phone rings, the expectation is that I will immediately cease work to chat/be a chimney while they vent/solve the world's problems/whatever. Maybe I'm just a curmudgeon, but I find that rather irritating.
I much prefer text messages or e-mail, since I can look at it and get back to you when I actually have the CPU cycles to devote to whatever it is you need.
Source code (Score:5, Insightful)
#include <time.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#define kase(tipo,stmt) case(tipo):{stmt;break;}
char *a[10] = {
"in particular",
"on the other hand",
"however",
"similarly",
"in this regard",
"as a resultant implication",
"based on integral subsystem considerations",
"for example",
"thus",
"in respect to specific goals"},
*b[10] = {
"a large portion of the interface coordinated communication",
"a constant flow of effective information",
"the characterization of specific criteria",
"initiation of critical subsystem development",
"the fully integrated test program",
"the product configuration baseline",
"any associated supporting element",
"the incorporation of additional mission constraints",
"the independent functional principle",
"a primary interrelationship between system and/or subsystem technologies"},
*c[10] = {
"must utilize and be functionally interwoven with",
"maximizes the probability of project success and minimizes the cost and time required for",
"adds explicit performance limits to",
"necessitates that urgent consideration be applied to",
"requires considerable systems analysis and trade off studies to arrive at",
"is further compounded when taking into account",
"presents extremely interesting challenges to",
"recognizes the importance of other systems and the necessity for",
"effects a significant implementation of",
"adds overriding performance constraints to"},
*d[10] = { /* orders: abcd, dacb, bacd, adcb */
"the sophisticated hardware",
"the anticipated next generation equipment",
"the subsystem compatibility testing",
"the structural design based on system engineering concepts",
"the preliminary qualification limits",
"the evolution of specification over a given time period",
"the philosophy of commonality and standardization",
"the top-down development method",
"any discrete configuration mode",
"the total system rationale"};
main()
{
int n, order, w, x, y, z;
srand(time(NULL));
for (n = 0; n < 1000; n++)
{
if (!(n % 10)) printf("\n");
w = rand() % 10;
x = rand() % 10;
y = rand() % 10;
z = rand() % 10;
order = rand() % 4;
switch (order)
{
case 0:
printf(" %c%s, %s %s %s.", a[w][0] & 0xDF, a[w] + 1, b[x], c[y], d[z]);
break;
case 1:
printf(" %c%s, %s, %s %s.", d[w][0] & 0xDF, d[w] + 1, a[x], c[y], b[z]);
break;
case 2:
printf(" %c%s, %s, %s %s.", b[w][0] & 0xDF, b[w] + 1, a[x], c[y], d[z]);
Re:Instant distractions (Score:2, Insightful)
I never mentioned anything about people who generally use cell phones. I'm sorry if it was taken otherwise. My "flame bait" footnote is actually only directed toward the subset of people who find it absolutely inconceivable that anyone could successfully manage one's life without a cell phone. I've been attacked by that type of person as if I had suggested something absurd such as not immunizing children. It was not my attempt (or in my text) to disparage the usefulness of cell phones. I had one for a while, but I got rid of it based on cost/usefulness for my lifestyle.
Flexibility in communication is valuable, but it does have a certain cost - typically $500 to $1000 a year (and a contract), although there are sometimes lower cost options for maybe $100 to $300 a year depending on what type of prepaid contract is offered in one's area.
Flexibility can also be built into plans. For example if my friend(s) are late to the restaurant I can go in so as to not lose our reservation. After say five to fifteen minutes I can ask to borrow the restaurant's phone to call the friend. If no answer I can decide (with the people with me if there are others) to order appetizers and wait longer, order the whole meal (possibly something for the missing friend), or tip the waiter and let someone waiting actually have the table so they can eat. It's possible that we all know where to go after dinner too. I have found that plans can break down with and without portable communication. There is also the fact that under-planned events (I'll meet you at the fair vs. I'll meet you by the long haired rabbits) can break down because someone forgets a phone, the battery dies, or the signal is wacky.
You also lose the middle range of spontaneity if you don't have a cell phone. If you are in the neighborhood you would have to find a pay phone first before being able to call a friend to drop in or meet at a local coffee shop. You can still go for the bigger option of ringing the doorbell (possibly already having acquired two coffees). Again - you can have that range back for about $500 to $1000 a year.
Managing life without a portable phone is perfectly reasonable for many people (not so reasonable for the traveling repairman). It can take a little more thorough planning and a little more flexibility if plans go wrong (contingencies - planned and spontaneous), security in one's ability to deal with problems that come up (hyperbole: walk in a straight line, living off the land, until you hit the ocean, then follow the coast until you hit a town with a phone), and enough confidence (in yourself and your relationships) that you don't feel the compulsion for instantly available communication. Having a cell phone doesn't mean you don't have any or all of the above routinely going for you, but people who don't believe that it's possible cope without a cell phone seem to do so out of a deficiency of one of the above.
Re:Instant distractions (Score:1, Insightful)