hubbub

The Secular Sabbath

I've shared this idea with a few people: I'd like Hubbub to lead a national campaign to get people to disconnect from the Web at least one day a week. As many of you know, I am a serious Internet junkie, so I am looking at this as both an altruistic endevaor and a personal neccessity. But, in the next couple of weeks, I'd like to get a show of hands from folks who can help promote the concept, and build an awareness campaign. For now, I am going to begin the effort by taking myself offline on the Sabbath -- I will not be reachable between sundown Friday and sundown Saturday, every week.

That's right, I'm pulling a Lieberman on everyone. Fortunately, I am not running for public office.

Multitasking: The Myth of Our Generation

It's taken me more than a week to post about Steve Lohr's recent New York Times article (registration required) about the perils of information overload and multitasking. Why? Because I've been too busy keeping up with the barrage of information that's competing with this very relevant story. But one section of the story struck a nerve with me:

The human brain, with its hundred billion neurons and hundreds of trillions of synaptic connections, is a cognitive powerhouse in many ways. “But a core limitation is an inability to concentrate on two things at once,” said René Marois, a neuroscientist and director of the Human Information Processing Laboratory at Vanderbilt University.

Marois's research, notes Lohr, validates the point that we cannot concentrate on two things at once. So, perhaps it's time to stop talking about multitasking, a word that seems to imply that we can concentrate on two or more things at once. The better, more precise word is juggling. We all know how hard it is to juggle, and we all know the risks. The risks have been immortalized in an office cliche -- dropping the ball.

Does Web 2.0 Enhance or Reduce Productivity?

As many of you know, a favorite topic of mine is the price that the business world -- and society in general -- is paying to keep up with the participatory economy. Web Worker Daily points to a survey on employee work habits.

This survey puts numbers on what you probably already know: though we think of the web as a massive productivity enhancer, for some people it’s also a great time sink. This can leave some web workers caught in a contradiction: if you invest effort in the perfect system for getting things done and saving time, only to use up that time again in endless tours of blogs and chats and social sites, have you really gained anything?

There's a personal price, too: depleted energy. Businesses would be smart to find ways that leverage 2.0 tools for productivity while guarding against the professional and personal perils of time-sucking activities. Based on my observations of current work environments, I believe that the best place to start is with role definition. There are too many knowledge workers who feel that they need to cover the waterfront of general domain expertise. Focus is both liberating and effective. Of course, that's easier said than done. As a society, we need to make a commitment to each other to get offline, and get offline more often.