Social Media at Work: Turn on, tune in, or drop out?


Last month in a post about working in The Zone I noted how the multitude of distractions on a typical computer screen can impact our ability to focus. This seems particularly so for tasks like programming that require high concentration.

But many working environments expect programmers - and other staff - to respond quickly at any time to email, IM, phone calls and more. I am reminded of my recurring experience in one company. I would receive phone calls or message along the lines of this.

“I sent you an email 5 minutes ago and you haven’t responded. What’s up?”

What I would think… “if I checked every email instantly then I’d get barely any work done.”

What I would actually say… usually something diplomatic.

So I when a relevant article on attentive disruption arrived I had to delve further.

Read on…


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