The Managing Director of sales and marketing firm EA Worldwide Acquisitions considers how social media and technology are making it harder for people to ‘switch off’, and looks at the impact this could have on productivity.
It is now considered the norm to have a laptop, smartphone or tablet; these devices can be great for keeping up to date with what’s happening in the world, or connecting people who are thousands of miles away. However these devices are also intruding on people’s freedom. It’s estimated that 71% of business executives work holidays, evenings and weekends and it’s devices like smartphones and tablets that have helped make this a common problem.
Josh Cote’s believes that the convenience of being able to check email and be connected on the go is a distraction many professionals are finding it hard to escape. the with so many devices vying for attention people can get stuck in an attempt to keep on top of their workload, however many end up feeling far more stressed and run down by allowing work to interfere with their personal life.
In a new book by creativity expert Chris Barez Brown titled ‘Love Your Work, Love Your Life, Brown reveals there appears to be some negative side effects to this new form of multitasking. Although many professionals believe multitasking is essential to tackle their increasing workloads, Brown found after looking at research by the institute of psychology at the University of London, that multitasking can actually lead to an individual’s IQ temporarily dropping by ten points. This dramatic drop is the equivalent to skipping a whole night’s sleep.
Research cited by Brown also suggests that using so many devices has had a disastrous impact on people’s attention spans and ability to look at things in a more meaningful way. A study of two different groups, one made up of people who did a lot of digital multitasking and one that did not, found that the multitaskers were easily distracted and shallower than those who don’t use digital devices.
In his book, Brown suggests that one solution to the problem could be for professionals to discipline themselves in turning off their social media and digital devices when away from the office, claiming that many people will find their life is no worse of as a result. Josh Cote agrees with brown’s sentiment, and believes that multitasking is currently doing more harm than good. The managing director of EA Worldwide Acquisitions thinks that in order to avoid multitasking business professionals must make an effort to improve their time management capabilities.
Earlier this year Josh Cote attended a workshop tackling the issues surrounding time management. ‘The 5 Choices to Extraordinary Productivity’ was devised to help professional unleash their productivity potential by focusing on how to self-motivate and prioritise tasks correctly. The 8 step plan helps professionals to work out which tasks are more important by weighing up the rewards and consequences related to each task. Approaching tasks in this way makes each professional responsible for their own schedule and accountable should things not get completed. Josh Cote, found that the workshop completely changed his perspective on how to manage his time and helped him understand just how invasive and distracting digital technology can be.