Adderall, the new necessity. Thanks technology.

“The digital communications that were supposed to make working lives run more smoothly are actually preventing people from getting critical tasks accomplished.” –CNET News

It is becoming more and more apparent that technology is interfering with my normal thought processes and day-to-day activities.  Technology is supposed to help our productivity and social life..so is it doing that or, is it just causing more distractions?  A year into being a proud owner and member of the “smart phone club” (Droid Increidble now, iPhone 5 soon), my brain is online and connected.  All the time.  It doesn’t help that I’m a fast paced person, but now it is like my brain is constantly on speed and it won’t slow down!

Due to the years of computer and consistent cell phone app use, my brain has started to become programmed in a fashion where, without technological stimulation, it loses interest quicker.
Below I’ve listed a few issues (or are they?) of things I’ve noticed I can’t do anymore:

• Sit at a long traffic light without texting someone back
• Wake up in the middle of the night without checking my phone.  (Hello, what if someone tweeted me…urgent matters here)
• Check my email, one email at a time
• Be online with less than 5 tabs open (and active)
• Run on the treadmill without checking tweets

Side note:  I do not want this to be confused with the argument that communicating via technology is creating a generation that is unable to socialize face-to-face or one who is afraid to pick up the phone to talk through a problem.  In my case, that is not the problem at all.  (Unfortunately, technology has not cause me to lose any urge to continuously talk at 1,000 miles per hour.) 

What I’m arguing, rather, is that, in addition to my loud-mouth, talkative personality, I am finding a necessary pull to technology in order to satisfy my brain’s wandering attention.

A few months ago I went on a cruise.  You know, one of those boats that takes you miles out into the salty ocean water, far away from cell phone reception and wireless internet. I had all of my best friends with me but I still could not resist the urge to tweet about my off-shore excursion or post a picture of me in the straw market on Facebook.  Since when did basking in the rays not thinking about anything become “not good enough?”  Since technology introduced a completely different mindset where our mind can’t just sit still.  It has to be connected.

I’ve often thought about how incredibly hindering it would be to my productive and social life to lose my phone.  Right after that thought, however, I think that I would never get out of the driveway without realizing my phone isn’t with me.

So apparently, I’m right:  “Developing brains can become more easily habituated than adult brains to constantly switching tasks — and less able to sustain attention.” –NY Times

Naomi Alderman, in the debate on how Internet changes our brain, talks about how being surrounded by machines is teaching us to have a shorter attention span:  “So of course the internet is changing our brains. How could it not? It’s not surprising that we’re now more accustomed to reading short-form pieces, to accepting a Wikipedia summary, rather than reading a whole book. “

So, now that I’m a working girl and “the typical office worker is interrupted every three minutes by a phone call, e-mail, instant message or other distraction,” I gathered some tips from Cathy Davidson on how to deal with technology distractions at work:
• Plan offline interruptions into your day, whether a walk at lunch or a face-to-face meeting. Within your workplace, colleagues should have the ability to “hole up” solo or together on a project, free from constant connection to the rest of the world.
• A tip from designer Aza Raskin: Try reserving separate screens, or even separate devices, for Facebook, Twitter, and other distractors. If they’re in separate rooms, even better.
• Get into the habit of tagging complex matters to be discussed later, in real time. Davidson sends her colleagues emails with the subject line “Agenda”; at their weekly conference call, she’ll search her email for the term and — presto! — a list of items to discuss pops up.
• If chronically distracted, look below the surface. “We complain about email interference,” she says, “but the two most distracting things in any human life are emotional upset and physical discomfort — heartache and heartburn.”