Technology Distracting You Too Much?
Is technology distracting you too much? Many of us rely on technology to get our work done; but it can also become a distraction that causes us not to get our work done - or at least to not get it done in a timely fashion.
It's likely most of us have encountered this in one way or another. We interact with others hooked into technology who can't seem to respond in a clear, timely manner to normal conversation, questions, emails, etc. Or maybe our own responses - either dilatory, fuzzy or both - to others' conversation, questions, emails, etc. follow this pattern (Heaven forbid!).
My own experience has been that the stereotypical interaction between husbands and wives has now become ubiquitously mainstream:
- Wife: Blah-blah-blah-blah - Husband: Right honey (as he continues staring at his phone, laptop, or (in the old days) newspaper.
- Wife: Blah-blah-blah-blah - Husband: OK honey (still staring) - Wife (exasperated): You're not listening to a word I'm saying!
(Okay, so it could happen the other way around sometimes, but, really, it's mostly the wife talking, the husband "not-listening," isn't it?)
This is bad enough between husbands and wives. And if you're a guilty party, shame on you (I know of what I speak!). Now it's spread to a wider circle of human interaction. Here are some examples I've come up against at work. Note that these are examples where the individuals have retained the ability to communicate under normal circumstances - i.e. when technology is not playing a central role in the communication.
Email confusion: Stems mostly from "chain" emails. These chains can be a great convenience. But when they get too complex, people lose track of the original thread. A recent thread found me getting wrong answers to an inquiry. After several exchanges attempting to correct the mistake, I realized my counter-party was responding to an issue that arose earlier in the chain, one that no longer had relevance to the ongoing discussion. It took a while to correct. The technology distracted us both, but it wasn't because either of us had trouble following the chain, or engaging logically.
Notice that here we have two capable, clear-thinking individuals who would be just fine talking to each other in the same room. But the technology became a distracting element that waylaid our efforts.
Phone/email/text confusion: Was recently traveling with a companion I was introducing to someone else once we arrived at our destination. My companion, a generation younger, received a voice mail on his cell. He called back but didn't leave a message. I asked why? The reason was that people (particularly of that younger generation) don't leave voice mails in response to voice mails. They figure you'll see the "missed call" and call back; if not, they'll text you. But the person to whom we were traveling was of my generation, and I rightly suggested calling back and leaving a message rather than assume the caller would notice the "missed call." I was right. Only because of the call back did we finally connect.
So here we have, again, perfectly capable, clear-thinking individuals almost waylaid in their efforts to communicate. In both cases, individuals were distracted from communicating effectively because of technology.
We could go on, but you probably understand, as well as directly experience, distractions of these sorts in the workplace.
Switching gears a bit, technology can't bear all the blame. We've always been a distracted race. You wonder whether Eve wasn't somehow distracted by the serpent, or Adam wasn't distracted when he accepted Eve's invitation to take a bite. Didn't they hear God (their Creator for crying out loud) - when he said they could enjoy all the fruits of His Creation (Paradise), except for those of that one tree? The Serpent who was, of course, behind all this appealed to their pride. In doing so, he distracted them. Their attention turned inward, away from God.
Was God really asking too much when he forbade the eating of the fruit of this one tree - one solitary tree in the midst of Paradise? But that's what happens when we turn away from God, when we're self-centered. Instead of wanting what God wants, we want what we want. That Serpent - the Devil - knew this in the Garden and he knows it now. He will do all he can to distract us. And, being the Devil, he knows that if he can distract us in small things, it paves the way for bigger things.
Being distracted by technology may not seem like a big thing. It won't get you kicked out of Paradise. But taking a bite out of an apple probably didn't seem like a big thing to Eve or Adam either - especially after they had been distracted by that Serpent.
Develop the habit of avoiding distractions, strengthen your ability to concentrate. As Mother Theresa noted: "Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love." Don't be distracted by technology. Work at it and you'll find it's not really a big deal. In fact, it's really a small thing.
Even better, do this small thing with great love.
It's likely most of us have encountered this in one way or another. We interact with others hooked into technology who can't seem to respond in a clear, timely manner to normal conversation, questions, emails, etc. Or maybe our own responses - either dilatory, fuzzy or both - to others' conversation, questions, emails, etc. follow this pattern (Heaven forbid!).
My own experience has been that the stereotypical interaction between husbands and wives has now become ubiquitously mainstream:
- Wife: Blah-blah-blah-blah - Husband: Right honey (as he continues staring at his phone, laptop, or (in the old days) newspaper.
- Wife: Blah-blah-blah-blah - Husband: OK honey (still staring) - Wife (exasperated): You're not listening to a word I'm saying!
(Okay, so it could happen the other way around sometimes, but, really, it's mostly the wife talking, the husband "not-listening," isn't it?)
This is bad enough between husbands and wives. And if you're a guilty party, shame on you (I know of what I speak!). Now it's spread to a wider circle of human interaction. Here are some examples I've come up against at work. Note that these are examples where the individuals have retained the ability to communicate under normal circumstances - i.e. when technology is not playing a central role in the communication.
Email confusion: Stems mostly from "chain" emails. These chains can be a great convenience. But when they get too complex, people lose track of the original thread. A recent thread found me getting wrong answers to an inquiry. After several exchanges attempting to correct the mistake, I realized my counter-party was responding to an issue that arose earlier in the chain, one that no longer had relevance to the ongoing discussion. It took a while to correct. The technology distracted us both, but it wasn't because either of us had trouble following the chain, or engaging logically.
Notice that here we have two capable, clear-thinking individuals who would be just fine talking to each other in the same room. But the technology became a distracting element that waylaid our efforts.
Phone/email/text confusion: Was recently traveling with a companion I was introducing to someone else once we arrived at our destination. My companion, a generation younger, received a voice mail on his cell. He called back but didn't leave a message. I asked why? The reason was that people (particularly of that younger generation) don't leave voice mails in response to voice mails. They figure you'll see the "missed call" and call back; if not, they'll text you. But the person to whom we were traveling was of my generation, and I rightly suggested calling back and leaving a message rather than assume the caller would notice the "missed call." I was right. Only because of the call back did we finally connect.
So here we have, again, perfectly capable, clear-thinking individuals almost waylaid in their efforts to communicate. In both cases, individuals were distracted from communicating effectively because of technology.
We could go on, but you probably understand, as well as directly experience, distractions of these sorts in the workplace.
Switching gears a bit, technology can't bear all the blame. We've always been a distracted race. You wonder whether Eve wasn't somehow distracted by the serpent, or Adam wasn't distracted when he accepted Eve's invitation to take a bite. Didn't they hear God (their Creator for crying out loud) - when he said they could enjoy all the fruits of His Creation (Paradise), except for those of that one tree? The Serpent who was, of course, behind all this appealed to their pride. In doing so, he distracted them. Their attention turned inward, away from God.
Was God really asking too much when he forbade the eating of the fruit of this one tree - one solitary tree in the midst of Paradise? But that's what happens when we turn away from God, when we're self-centered. Instead of wanting what God wants, we want what we want. That Serpent - the Devil - knew this in the Garden and he knows it now. He will do all he can to distract us. And, being the Devil, he knows that if he can distract us in small things, it paves the way for bigger things.
Being distracted by technology may not seem like a big thing. It won't get you kicked out of Paradise. But taking a bite out of an apple probably didn't seem like a big thing to Eve or Adam either - especially after they had been distracted by that Serpent.
Develop the habit of avoiding distractions, strengthen your ability to concentrate. As Mother Theresa noted: "Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love." Don't be distracted by technology. Work at it and you'll find it's not really a big deal. In fact, it's really a small thing.
Even better, do this small thing with great love.
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