Stephen Elliott: “Studies have consistently shown that people with more screens open get less done. Multitasking slows down productivity.”
Uncited studies have also shown that relying upon uncited studies to make generalizations is a poor way to make an argument for something that should be taken on a case-by-case basis.
I have eight windows now open on my LCD monitor. I have tweaked about ten minutes of audio, revised a review that I need to turn in, replied to about twenty emails, gone for a walk to get my blood flowing, talked with the friendly guy at my neighborhood cafe for about ten minutes, helped a stranger get to the Castro area, finished reading a book, and picked up my books from the post office. And it’s not even nine o’clock.
We work the way that works best for us, at the level of technology that works best for us. (There are, believe it or not, certain technologies that I resist. And I remain surprised by how many people prefer Googling to simply asking for information, or who fail to use the telephone.) To chastise others for how they use technology is to similarly chastise others for what kind of sexuality they practice.
Stephen Elliott, in this case, is full of shit.
You couldn’t do it, could you?
Oh I could, Richard, and I often do for a day. I just don’t see the point of eliminating helpful technological conduits for a stunt or badmouthing those who use (or don’t use) them, when the real determining factor is not technology as a distracting evil, but individual self-discipline. 🙂
“I have eight windows now open on my LCD monitor. I have tweaked about ten minutes of audio, revised a review that I need to turn in, replied to about twenty emails, gone for a walk to get my blood flowing, talked with the friendly guy at my neighborhood cafe for about ten minutes, helped a stranger get to the Castro area, finished reading a book, and picked up my books from the post office. And it’s not even nine o’clock.”
and you call yourself a man? No cow milking or walking to school uphill…bothways bah child’s play!
Or maybe he just reads the New York Times.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/25/business/25multi.html?ex=1332475200&en=f2956114b1265d9b&ei=5090
“Think you can juggle phone calls, e-mail, instant messages and computer work to get more done in a time-starved world? Read on, preferably shutting out the cacophony of digital devices for a while.”
the mind boggles at how productive you COULD have been, Ed….