http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Organization/Talent/Recovering_from_information_overload_2735
The title of this article says it all "Recovering from Information overload". My brother-in-law happened to retweet a link to it yesterday, so I found about it on twitter. You have to register to see the full article, but it is free - and yes, I can now get even more free information to my email box.
The article suggests that business productivity is being affected because executives are spending too much time on myriads of different information streams, as a consequence they are not getting enough, good quality time to sit down and think through issues properly. "The whole organization’s productivity can now be affected by information overload, and no single person or group can address it in isolation."
The article goes on to suggest that we're becoming addicted to multitasking "Nonetheless, evidence is emerging that humans can become quite addicted to multitasking. Edward Hallowell and John Ratey from Harvard, for instance, have written about people for whom feeling connected provides something like a “dopamine squirt”—the neural effects follow the same pathways used by addictive drugs. This effect is familiar too: who hasn’t struggled against the urge to check the smart phone when it vibrates, even when we’re in the middle of doing something else?" I think that it's not really multitasking we're addicted to, it's more about finding out more information - just what is the text that just pinged about?
The need for information filters and information light periods is advocated. The article concludes by extolling "The benefits of lightening the burden of information overload—in productivity, creativity, morale, and business results—will more than justify the effort. And the more we appreciate the benefits, the easier it will be to make new habits stick."
Working in a small rural business, I can see this happening time and time again, the amount of time I waste, "emailing that document again", is frustrating. I find that it's becoming more challenging to handle all the information which comes through - mainly be email. It's also a challenging time for small rural businesses at the moment, we need to use information more effectively in the competition for business.
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ReplyDeleteI can relate to this very issue and often we talk about....all the time we must have had in the department before we had email.
ReplyDeleteI am also just back at work after 6 months sabbatical writing my PhD. Filtering out all the normal electronic 'froth' was absolutely essential for me to get 'quiet time' to sit and think...an increasingly rare opportunity in the information society as the article suggests.
How true! When I think of it, I find myself multitasking all the time. Well, I'm taking care of a baby, which makes this inevitable. When I'm doing one thing at a time, I'm somehow considering it a waste of time.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree that we're overloaded with information, but I also think we are getting better and better in quickly processing it, extracting what's important and finding our way through.
And I also agree information overload kills creativity - I can hardly think of these special moments when you start something from scrath, on blank piece of paper.