New Study: Worker is disrupted every 3 minutes by technology

Dec. 31, 2012 - PRLog -- A new study has just revealed that workers tend to get distracted every three minutes because of technology.
A study conducted by Dr. Gloria Mark from the Department of Informatics, University of California, shows that an average worker in the US is distracted and interrupted every 3 minutes because of technology and the same worker takes around 23 minutes to get his focus back on the task he was doing before getting distracted. She revealed this during an interview on Fox News. This is one of the negative effects of technology on our work
environment. http://importanceofmoderntechnology.com/the-impact-of-technology-on-society/

Dr. Mark is quite renowned for conducting research on digital distraction. To pursue this field of research still further, Dr. Mark got the research participants to stop reading or sending emails. She found that being obsessed with emails was not just unproductive, but it also had consequences on health. People, who check their emails frequently, tend to have an elevated heart rate at all times. In other words, such people's heart rate does drop or rise like normal heart rate should. The participants, who were not allowed to check their emails, not only became more productive at work, they also focused better at work. Using these results, Dr. Mark concluded that people frequenting social media sites during working hours would also show similar distractions and health consequences.

During the interview with Fox News, Dr. Mark stated that the distraction caused by social media sites is open to argument at the moment, as stress levels in people increase when they multitask. At the same time, she pointed out that when stress levels increase, it has an adverse effect on productivity. She went on to further say that while some amount of stress is necessary at work to keep workers busy, they should not get so stressed that it affects their health and well being.(http://importanceofmoderntechnology.com/)

Thankfully, workers have the option of overcoming distractions posed by technology and social media sites. Here are some tips that will keep workers from getting distracted at work:

Turn off all the notifications in social media sites to stop getting texts and pings each time a friend tags you or updates their status.
Do not check your emails (easier said than done!).
Make a rule where you will not use social media sites for a given time.
Make a timetable for yourself where you allocate time for every single task, including checking your emails and using social networking sites. Stick to the timetable diligently.
Use a service to filter out your junk emails, so that you can concentrate on emails that are important.
Use task management tools to improve your productivity. There are many such tools, like Asanda, Due and Do and Any do, that can help you in this endeavor.
Install a software to pause incoming mails into your inbox. This will stop you from checking personal emails and getting distracted at work.
Install a software on your browser that can help you block sites that you consider are distracting. This way you can focus at work and check those sites after you have finished your tasks.

There are many ways to be efficient and productive at work without getting distracted by technology. Use these methods to help you stay focused at work.