This morning, I read yet another piece on how technology erodes the quality of our lives. This piece was in the New York Times, a conversation with Michael Harris about his book on how the constant chatter of social media cuts out silence in our life and makes it difficult to listen to what is truly important in our lives.
I was struck by this passage:
When he took a complete break from technology . . .
"It was crushingly lonely at first. I had withdrawal feelings for two or three weeks. Though I was quickly more present and I became the best boyfriend ever to my partner. Then, the moment I went back online, I did it in a whiplash way, and — quickly — I became the worst boyfriend I had ever been."
I want to point out some irony here that may not be immediately obvious to you. I was reading this piece on-line in the New York Times, having just clicked on a link in my e-mail. I flipped there from my Facebook account. The radio was playing. My sons were loudly discussing a video game. I had previously logged my breakfast into an online program for monitoring weight and had just checked the delivery time on the iPhone 6 I just ordered. And I am, of course, writing a blog about my thoughts and experiences.
Technology? Multitasking? Oh yes, I know those sirens' songs.
Novelty and Intermittant Reward
The psychological attraction of technology is well established: old wine in new bottles.
Novelty attracts our attention. We automatically look at anything new. A text alert. The change from 3 to 4 notifications on our email account. We evolved to look for changes in our environment as harbingers of danger. It both increases our anxiety and grabs our attention.
Intermittantly rewarded habitsare the hardest to unlearn. If you are rewarded every single time you do something, you will learn that task quickly. However, if you suddenly stop being rewarded, you'll try the behavior a number of times, and then just stop. If you aren't rewarded when you do something, you won't learn to do it.
Intermittant reward is the hardest habit to break. You learn the task a bit slowly. But once you've learn it, you keep doing it. Sometimes you're rewarded, sometimes you're not. So the next time, it just might be there . . . Gambling works like that. The longer the losing streak, the more you are convinced that the next time it's going to pay off.
Facebook is the same. If you keep checking, you know someone is going to post an update.
Novelty and intermittant reward together and you're constantly connected. The prompt is completing a task or any break where you aren't otherwise occupied. Or you hear a little 'ping' from your pocket or a flag on your screen. You briefly check your tech (your learned behavior). Most of the time you're rewarded by seeing something new. It's not that good or that exciting and it doesn't make you that happy, but it's enough to keep you going back for more.
Why You Should Stop
A lot of other people have written long, excellent, well-documented pieces showing that:
- Multitasking reduces efficiency. You become less efficient (for four minutes on average in complex tasks) every time you flip from one thing to another. This is particularly true if you are working on complex tasks that require deeper thought and keeping multiple ideas in your head at the same time.
- Multitasking causes stress. Both because it increases cognitive load and because you do all the tasks less well than if you concentrated on them. Working and checking texting a friend? You neither work as well nor enjoy your chat as much as if you did either alone.
- Creativity flourish in downtime. People make their most creative breakthroughs when they've been working hard at a project and then just empty their minds. Exercising, going for a walk, painting, rolling around on the floor with kids, just staring into space . . . When the foreground of your mind is only minimally occupied, the background keeps working away at that problem. That's when many truly creative breakthroughs occur. Personally, I like knitting.
Cutting Back Not Cutting Out
We all know we should use tech less, but never get around to changing. There is an in-between ground between internet celibacy and constant disruptive connectivity. Some strategies to consider:
- Savor the media you use. Just as people eat less when they really focus on what they're eating and savor it, you will enjoy the time you spend relaxing on media and be more satisfied by it if you really focus on it.
- PS: If you find yourself enjoying an article but starting to skim a paragraph or two in and unable to finish, you may be having the kinds of trouble concentrating that are symptomatic of a lot of multi-tasking.
- Pick a few forums you really like and drop the rest. Before I went on a recent trip where I had limited connectivity, there were four or five places I habitually checked throughout the day. When I got back, I found I missed one of those, but the rest I could just let go. Drop your least satisfying media. See if your life satisfactin has gotten better or worse. Odds are, you are just as happy as you were before. If you find yourself reaching for that button, ask yourself - is this habit or do I really want it?
- This is like eating from habit. Are you really hungry, or are you reaching for that cookies just for something to do?
- Consolidate your time. One of the most effective ways you can use technology to enhance your life instead of degrate it is to cluster similar tasks together. When you're walking, walk. When you're writing, write. When you want to take a break, spend 10 minutes NOT working and just browse Facebook or check your Twitter feed. When you relax, RELAX. Be mindful of what you're doing. As Yoda said of Luke, "Never his mind on where he was. Hmm? What he was doing. Hmph. Adventure. Heh. Excitement. Heh. A Jedi craves not these things." This was not a compliment. The problem wasn't that he wasn't serious or wasn't studying, it was that he was not focusing on that task at hand.
- Stretch out time between media breaks. I have not seen research on this subject, but I have a strong hunch (read 'hypothesis that could be productively tested') that what is most critical about media use is not how often you check it, but how much time there is BETWEEN checking. In other words, you might check out Twitter, Facebook, texts, and XKCD every hour. But if you do all those close together and then spend 50 minutes without checking them, I bet you are much less stressed and much more productive than if you check out the same number of outlets spaced out over the same amount of time.