[iDC] Re: iDC Digest, Vol 26, Issue 12

Marcialart at aol.com Marcialart at aol.com
Sat Dec 30 01:10:00 EST 2006


 
Trebor, thanks!  This is the best New Year's gift you could possibly  have 
sent -- to me at least, and I'm sure to fellow sufferers.  It's VERY  helpful 
and practical to those of us drowning in email, desperately  treading water as 
the tide grows ever higher.  The phrase "continuous  partial attention" 
precisely defines a pernicious cultural condition to which  I've succumbed.  My main 
New Year's resolution is to overcome it and  re-learn to focus.
 
Thanks again. Here's to longer periods of total attention to a single  task.
 
No need to respond!
 
cheers,
Marcia Tanner
 
In a message dated 12/29/2006 9:02:38 AM Pacific Standard Time,  
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Today's Topics:

1. How to overcome  continuous partial attention. (Trebor  Scholz)


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Message:  1
Date: Fri, 29 Dec 2006 10:51:26 -0500
From: Trebor Scholz  <trebor at thing.net>
Subject: [iDC] How to overcome continuous partial  attention.
To: IDC list <idc at bbs.thing.net>
Message-ID:
<r02010500-1048-711D9DC4975411DBAFF4001124E13D4E@[192.168.2.3]>
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"Our husbands come home from work, glued  to their Blackberries. They don't 
talk with us or with the children. They  don't connect with us. And then, when 
we go to bed,
they want sex. I don't  think so."           

-a wife and mother  in New York City in November  2006

<http://continuouspartialattention.jot.com/WikiHome>

In  1998 former Microsoft researcher Linda Stone coined the term continuous  
partial attention.

Most of us sit in front of a computer screen while  texting with a friend or 
communicate our order in the cafe with the cellphone  on our ear. We are aware 
of several things at
once, shifting our attention  to whatever we deem most important at any given 
moment. That's continuous  partial attention. Many students are affected by 
this phenomenon
and the  methods with which we engage them need to reflect these  changes.

<http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6062980.stm>

Snow  Crash author Neal Stephenson's website makes his take on continuous 
partial  attention abundantly clear. He writes:

"Every productive thing that I  do requires ALL my attention. I cannot put it 
any better than Donald Knuth,  who writes on his website, 'Email is a 
wonderful thing for people
whose  role in life is to be on top of things. But not for me; my role is to 
be on  the bottom of things. What I do takes long hours of studying and  
uninterruptible
concentration.'"

<http://www.well.com/~neal/>

Continuous  partial attention goes beyond multi-tasking and efficiency 
optimization. We  are what we are paying attention to. We listen to our ipod while 
on a bicycle.  We are
online while the TV runs in the background. We answer our cellphone  while 
checking email. Being part of an opportunity-rich social network is what  
matters most. Many of
us take calls on our cellphone while we are on lunch  break. Or even worse, 
according to a recent study 22% of German cellphone  users report having 
interrupted sex to
answer their cellphone. Stone argues  that multi-tasking always aims for the 
most advantageous, beneficial  communication link for each moment. Sex with 
your partner may
be less of an  overall opportunity than the call from the boss. However, 
sometimes the moving  of attention from one object to the next may not be related 
to an  eagerness
not to miss out -- the mind follows stimuli and many of us get  wrapped up in 
the next task before we even realize that it happened.  

<http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2005/cell_sex.html>

The  24/7 e-leash makes people work longer hours in virtually any place. The 
work  place crisis intrudes into our personal life at any time. Life is marked 
by  continuous partial
attention equipped with anytime, anywhere, any place  technologies. A recent 
study by Berry Schwartz at Swarthmore College study  directly linked what he 
called the
vertigo of voice to the widespread  increase in depression and anxiety. Too 
much choice makes us  unhappy.

<http://www.enotalone.com/article/6839.html>

Therefore,  to improve your quality of life, the ability to judge the 
credibility of  information becomes essential. Today, groups of people help each 
other to  filter information.
They recommend content on sites like Digg or link to  the URL of a website 
that they appreciated thus promoting this site's Google  ranking. But Google's 
evaluation is flawed
because sites like JewWatch  score high rankings despite brainless and 
offensive content. Also other  ranking systems are controversial as they merely 
indicate popularity,
which  does not inevitably stand for informative and relevant content. 
Britney Spears  scores highest rankings in the referral system of the Itunes Store 
and yet  listeners with
refined music taste may not appreciate her stuff. The  network on Del.icio.us 
is a helpful filtering system as it relies on a small  group of people whom 
we trust. They look
through a large number of sites  and vote for a site or article by saving and 
describing it. Human judgment  alongside more sophisticated tools will lead 
to higher
trustworthiness of  online resources.

<http://del.icio.us/help/network>

Many  technologists read a large number of weblogs every morning. This is 
followed  by a quick check of the latest bookmarks in their Del.icio.us network. 
After  that people
draw their attention to the dozens if not hundreds of emails in  their 
inboxes. It is a constant cycle of intake. And, not paying attention to  it does not 
make it stop. The
default is absorption and not reflection. How  much time are we left with to 
think? Standing on terabytes of information does  not make us more reflective.

Students readily admit to computer  addiction or continuous partial attention 
and ask what can be done about it.  

Here are a few practical guidelines for students (and the rest of  us):

Twenty minutes in the morning should be sufficient to 

1)  read all emails (!) and write short responses to mails of low importance, 
 

2) delete uncaught spam and anything that does not need a response,  

3) file away emails that require in-depth responses and 

4)  subsequently end up with an empty inbox.

Later in the afternoon,  ideally always at the same time, take an hour to 
respond to important messages  that require some thought and sensitivity. 

Apart from these two times,  *email programs are off.* 

This is very hard because at the move of a  finger, a push of a button, your 
email program pops up. However, with  sufficient intentionality it should be 
possible. Just think of
the fact  that fewer interruptions lead to more focused work on your 
projects. You will  experience an increased sense of well-being. At work many people 
will not be  able to
stay off email from 9-5pm, of course. But you can adapt these  guidelines for 
your schedule.

A 24-hour response time for email  messages is appropriate.

A recent New York Times article found that  current day students often demand 
a prompt reply to their email requests from  professors, which is 
unreasonable. Don't expect
others to immediately  answer and also you do not need to get back right 
away. 

Some people  developed the habit of not responding to some emails addressed 
to them. (They  simply delete them.) This is exceedingly rude and passive 
aggressive. A  brief,
clear email explaining a lack of time or interest could often solve  
unnecessary tensions.

<http://tinyurl.com/ybunfk>

Emails  that are charged with conflict should not be responded to right away. 
Save  them in your drafts folder and get back to them when you feel less 
afflicted.  If the
conflict is more severe, email is the wrong medium. In that case, a  
face-to-face meeting has a much greater chance to lead to conflict  resolution.

Strategies to avoid network distraction include  intentionally working in a 
place such as a cafe that does not have wireless  service. Or, if you are 
disciplined enough, just
switch off the wireless  connection on your computer. Online or off, it 
becomes increasingly important  to intently create time to think.  

<http://continuouspartialattention.jot.com/WikiHome>

In  addition, a clean desktop can contribute to focus. Furthermore, having 
only  one application visible makes it easier to concentrate. Applications like 
the  free Mac program
WriteRoom and the very useful but proprietary, for-pay  program DevonThink 
switch your computer to full-screen. You write green text  on a black background 
just like in
the old days. 

Such tools are  helpful but the assumption that continuous partial attention 
can be fixed by  yet another software application is misguided. Machines are 
supposed to fix  the
problems that we would not have without them. There is not a  technological 
answer to all social problems. In the end, your focus and  presence throughout 
the day is not
entirely determined by your mastery of  sociable media skills. However, the 
ability to judge the credibility of  information is a core skill that will help 
you to fight continuous
partial  attention.  

-ts

blog:
<http://tinyurl.com/yb2toy>
<http://www.collectivate.net/journalisms/2006/12/29/how-to-overcome-continuous
-partial-attention.html>



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End of  iDC Digest, Vol 26, Issue  12
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