Eventually, our entire day will consist of interruptions

[mandy]

Interruptions at work waste 28 percent of the day and cost U.S. businesses a staggering $588 billion a year, according to a report by . . .

Hold on a moment. The phone is ringing here in my home office. It's a recorded reminder that my wife has an appointment at the dentist tomorrow.

Anyway, that report comes from Basex, a research and consulting firm in New York...

full article: http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/silicon...096612.htm

[bargainbloodhound]

``Given the trend of the past two decades, we can project that the impact of interruptions will increase at a rate of 5 percent per year,'' the report continues. ``If the problem of interruptions is left unchecked, it will occupy the entirety of the workday by 2031.''

Sounds good to me right now.  I could use a break from working. 

``It's almost like people sit down at computers and acquire a quasi-attention deficit disorder,'' Spira said.

We jump around from one thing to another.

   ... :oops:

Technology, of course, is greatly increasing interruptions.

yes, but it also saves time...and uh, if you took away my computer I'd have to go and get a job    and if I did get a job working in an office somewhere I'd probably have more free time than I have now  :blinkie: 

[vitalfinds]

This article is kind of interesting I guess, but it almost implies that the days "olden days" were better -- when for instance, to get the same research data, you'd need to drive (or maybe walk) to the nearest library and spend an "un-interrupted" half-day finding the same data that you can now find in a few minutes, which leaves plenty of time then to write quick emails (versus hand-written long letters), place quick calls and get an instant answers, allowing you to avoid "wasting time" waiting for the info, etc.

[butterflykisses]

Wandering from forum to forum is anti-productive. 

[misteroriginal]

[quote author=mandy link=topic=1161.msg4409#msg4409 date=1131354309]

Interruptions at work waste 28 percent of the day and cost U.S. businesses a staggering $588 billion a year, according to a report by . . .
[/quote]

Wow! That's more than the entire English GDP! It would be like Massachusetts falling off into the ocean! Not sure anyone would miss it other than Ted Kennedy and my Mom, but STILL...

[jezebel]

Eventually, our entire day will consist of interruptions

eventually? 

[maryrussel]

A two-minute phone call often breaks our train of thought, and we wander into other tasks. It may be hours before we get back to whatever urgent thing we were doing when the phone first rang.

This is why I refuse to answer the phone when I am working. One of the advantages of working for myself at home is that no one can fire me for not answering it.

I have my answering machine on at all times. If it is really important the caller can leave a message.

When our whole work day is filled with interruptions, will we then have to resort to interrupting the interruptions?

[stardust]

[quote author=vitalfinds link=topic=1161.msg4455#msg4455 date=1131427843]
This article is kind of interesting I guess, but it almost implies that the days "olden days" were better -- when for instance, to get the same research data, you'd need to drive (or maybe walk) to the nearest library and spend an "un-interrupted" half-day finding the same data that you can now find in a few minutes, which leaves plenty of time then to write quick emails (versus hand-written long letters), place quick calls and get an instant answers, allowing you to avoid "wasting time" waiting for the info, etc.
[/quote]
I don't know that technology is so advanced.  We don't have cable -- or satellite -- here at home, so we still have to listen to UNM football and basketball on the crystal set.  >