Daily Distraction In The Digital Age

Are we distracted? Our daily lives have become dominated by the eight-hour workday, leaving little time for family, hobbies, or self-care. In reality, many of us are only doing five to six hours' worth of actual work - spending precious extra minutes and hours on pointless meetings or succumbing to distractions like our pinging phones. Not only is this wreaking havoc with workers’ well-being, but businesses too could be losing out big time; a recent study conducted by Udemy found that employees feel unfulfilled in their jobs yet don't know what else they can do! Stretching Our Brain In the analog days, stretching our brains to their limit was hard enough. But fast forward to today's digital world, and it feels as if you're racing a Formula One car on a dirt road! We must develop strategies that help us focus on one task at a time (instead of frantically multitasking) or resist distraction. As a result, our productivity, accuracy, and quality suffer because switching from job to job can quickly deplete our mental energy reserves. Are Our Brains Healthy With all the data we're presented with daily, our brains must work hard to keep up! But putting in that extra effort can be taxing - it's like squeezing an orange until nothing remains. Our neurons send fatigue signals when they've been overworked from having to differentiate between trivia and crucial information, and we ignore them. In addition, we may need to realize how much of what we see online or hear from others is competing for resources; whether mundane life choices or deeper moral issues, things take more energy than we think to process correctly. Is It That Bad? With so much work, our attention span is shorter than ever, and it’s no surprise that analysts have reached the same conclusion: distraction, at its worst, can cost us a significant amount of time and productivity. For example, McKinsey & Co. estimated that 28% of high-skilled workers' hours are eaten up by emails alone! And we still need to begin tackling issues like social media distractions... Trained Responses We can't deny it; the design of social media has us hooked! From needing to answer a text or email instantly to checking Twitter updates compulsively - we've been conditioned by persuasive design. To break free from its grip and train ourselves to focus intently again requires effortful practice every day. Is There A Solution If you frequently find yourself easily distracted, it may be time to consider some mitigation strategies. You control your level of distraction, and there are many things you can do to improve the situation. Please register for our upcoming workshop on digital distractions to learn more about how to manage this issue in your life. Sign up for the Digital Distraction Workshop and receive a copy of the Seven Sins of the Digitally Distracted eBook. https://www.eapworkshop.com/f/eliminate-distractions-in-a-digital-age Stay Informed and Stay Safe