Efficiency Disruption
by Miki Saxon
Why in the world do so many people choose to run at 60% efficiency?
“Not me,” I hear you saying.
Yes, you.
It’s the price you pay for enabling ‘notifications’ on your phone.
Your phone sitting there, constantly lighting up throughout the day creates this pattern in the brain scientists call “switch cost.”
It essentially means when there is an interruption, such as a notification, we switch our attention away from the task, then have to return afterwards — which is costly in terms of brain power, as well as time.
There are a finite number of hours in the day and we plan in an effort to spend them wisely, so it makes sense that we should plan how to spend our daily allotment of brain power/energy just as wisely.
Considering the toll, notifications doesn’t seem to fall in the wise column.
“We think it interrupts our efficiency with our brains, by about 40%,” Scott Bea, a psychologist at Cleveland Clinic told CBS. “Our nose is always getting off the grindstone, then we have to reorient ourselves.”
Beyond reducing effectiveness, notifications near constant interruptions directly effects our brains.
According to a study, presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America last November, the interruptions from alerts to your smartphone could be altering your brain chemistry. (…) Constantly waiting for the next notification can put you on edge, meaning when it comes, your body releases cortisol, causing you heart rate to jump.
Even if you scoff at the addictive and brain-altering effects of notifications, do you really want to stake your career progression/success on functioning at 60% efficiency?
After all, it is your choice.
Check out some of the other posts/links about the myth of multitasking and its negative effects.
Image credit: Erik Pitti
