Information Overload Hurts Creativity

Distractions from e-mail, tweets, and Facebook updates are destroying our productivity and creativity.

The global economy may run on countless streams, waves, and pools of information, but unrestrained, that tidal wave of data is drowning us. It washes away our productivity and creativity, and swamps our social lives.

Some of us actually call it "quality time" when we sit on the sofa with our kids scrolling through e-mail on our BlackBerries.

Interruptions and distractions take many forms. They include ringing phones, text messages, instant messages, the chime that alerts you to incoming e-mail, and, of course, a colleague dropping by your office to chat. Any of these will break your chain of thought and may make you drop your current task to start another. The myth that this is okay because people can multitask is just that; ample research proves that the brain simply doesn't work that way.

Article Continues at IEEE Spectrum

You Might Also Like:

Think Small To Get Tasks Done