In early April a series of reports appeared online in the United
States and the United Kingdom lamenting the “lazy French.” A new labor
law in France had apparently banned organizations from e-mailing their
employees after 6 p.m. In fact, it turned out to be more a case of “lazy
journalists” than “lazy French”: as The Economist explained,
the “law” was not a law at all but a labor agreement aimed at improving
health among a specific group of professionals, and there wasn’t even a
hard curfew for digital communication.
Like all myths, however, this one revealed a set of abiding values
subscribed to by the folk who perpetuated it. Brits and Americans have
long suspected that the French (and others) are goofing off while they
— the good corporate soldiers — continue to toil away. They’re proud
about it too. A Gallup poll,
released in May, found that most U.S. workers see their
constant connection with officemates as a positive. In the age of the
smartphone, there’s no such thing as “downtime,” and we profess to be
happier — and more productive — for it.
Are we, though? After reviewing thousands of books, articles and
papers on the topic and interviewing dozens of experts in fields
from neurobiology and psychology to education and literature, I don’t
think so. When we accept this new and permanent ambient workload —
checking business news in bed or responding to coworkers’ emails during
breakfast — we may believe that we are dedicated, tireless workers. But,
actually, we’re mostly just getting the small, easy things done. Being
busy does not equate to being effective.
And let’s not forget about ambient play, which often distracts us
from accomplishing our most important tasks. Facebook and Twitter report
that their sites are most active during office hours. After all, the
employee who’s required to respond to her boss on Sunday morning will
think nothing of responding to friends on Wednesday afternoon. And research shows
that these digital derailments are costly: it’s not only the minutes
lost responding to a tweet but also the time and energy required
to “reenter” the original task. As Douglas Gentile, a professor at Iowa
State University who studies the effects of media on attention spans,
explains, “Everyone who thinks they’re good at multitasking is wrong.
We’re actually multiswitching [and] giving ourselves extra work.”
Each shift of focus sets our brain back and creates a cumulative
attention debt, resulting in a harried workforce incapable of producing
sustained burst of creative energy. Constant connection means that
we’re “always at work”, yes, but also that we’re “never at work”
— fully.
People and organizations looking for brave new ideas or significant
critical thinking need to recognize that disconnection is therefore
sometimes preferable to connection. You don’t ask a jogger who just ran
six miles to compete in a sprint, so why would you ask an
executive who’s been answering a pinging phone all morning to deliver
top-drawer content at his next meeting?
Some parts of the workforce do rely on constant
real-time communication. But others should demand and be given proper
breaks from the digital maelstrom. Batch-processing email is one easy
solution. Do it a few times a day and reserve the rest of your time for
real work. Most colleagues and clients will survive without a response
for three hours, and if it’s truly urgent, they can pick up the phone.
The great tech historian Melvin Kranzberg said, “technology is
neither good nor bad, nor is it neutral.” That statement should become a
real tenant of the information age. I don’t advocate abstinence or
blanket rules like that fictional post-6 p.m. email ban. (Though, if
you want to try unplugging for a weekend, check out my “analog August” challenge.)
However, I do think our cult of connectivity has gone too far. We
can’t keep falling prey to ambient work or play. Instead, we must
actively decide on our level of tech engagement at different times to
maximize productivity, success, and happiness.
Source: http://blogs.hbr.org/2014/08/if-youre-always-working-youre-never-working-well