Can I Have Your Attention? Implications of the Research on Distractions and Multitasking for Reference Librarians

The media have identified the last decade as “the age of distraction.” People today find it harder to work on long, sustained tasks because distractions are eroding their attention span, fostering a culture of discontinuity. Fields as diverse as psychology, business, education, human-computer interaction, and communication studies have produced a wealth of studies on interruptions, distractions, and multitasking–research that has important implications for reference librarians. The nature of our jobs invites interruptions by the public, requires familiarity with the latest technology, stimulates curiosity about a broad range of subjects, and demands adeptness at multitasking–all factors which can atomize attention

Understanding Perceptions of Problematic Facebook Use: When People Experience Negative Life Impact and a Lack of Control

While many people use social network sites to connect with friends and family, some feel that their use is problematic, seriously affecting their sleep, work, or life. Pairing a survey of 20,000 Facebook users measuring perceptions of problematic use with behavioral and demographic data, we examined Facebook activities associated with problematic use as well as the kinds of people most likely to experience it. People who feel their use is problematic are more likely to be younger, male, and going through a major life event such as a breakup. They spend more time on the platform, particularly at night, and spend proportionally more time looking at profiles and less time browsing their News Feeds. They also message their friends more frequently. While they are more likely to respond to notifications, they are also more likely to deactivate their accounts, perhaps in an effort to better manage their time. Further, they are more likely to have seen content about social media or phone addiction. Notably, people reporting problematic use rate the site as more valuable to them, highlighting the complex relationship between technology use and well-being. A better understanding of problematic Facebook use can inform the design of context-appropriate and supportive tools to help people become more in control.Comment: CHI 201

Theorizing the Unintended Consequences of Instant Messaging for Worker Productivity

Instant messaging (IM) is one of the newest and fastest-growing communication technologies in the workplace today, yet little is known about its real implications for worker productivity. We have taken the particular affordances of instant messaging as the basis for extrapolating from and linking prior studies of email use, polychronic communication, and task interruptions to develop propositions regarding the unanticipated individual-level productivity implications of widespread IM use in the workplace. We argue that while instant message communication may accelerate particular tasks and decision processes, unstructured IM use will likely contribute to erosion in individuals’ overall productivity due to an increase in users’ communicative workloads, engagement in polychronic communication, and an increase in the frequency of interruptions. We intend our proposed model and propositions as an impetus for further study of both the benefits and challenges of workplace instant messaging

How do knowledge workers cope with their everyday job

Knowledge work, which forms a large part of modern economy, often involves collaboration. In order not to overemphasise either the transactional or the communicative aspect of collaboration, attitudes and technologies may have to change. Data from a survey show how knowledge workers manage their time and tasks using straightforward office technologies. Enhanced context awareness could help both the communication initiator and the communication target. This is a matter of behaviour and a chance for technology

The effects of text messaging on memory recall in college students

Technology is constantly changing, and has enabled communication to be readily available everywhere, to everyone, including students in classrooms. Most devices are portable, capable of talking, texting, and surfing the internet. Many researchers have questioned the impact technology has on individuals, making multitasking a popular research area in cognitive psychology today. Simulated environments have been created and used to examine an individual’s performance while using a cell phone as they engage in everyday activities such as driving or walking. Results from the simulated environments have found that when individuals perform a primary task while conversing on a cell phone, they have lower performance on the primary task (Charlton, 2009). The majority of research on multitasking has examined how cell phone use affects driving performance. Because text messaging is a popular form of communication among young adults, an emerging area of multitasking research is now examining the effects of cell phones in learning environments. The purpose of the current study is to examine the various components of text messaging and determine which component is the most distracting for college students. Participants were randomly assigned to the control group, the receiving group, or the combined sending and receiving group. The group the participant was randomly assigned to determined their task with the cell phone during the video. Each participant watched a 10 minute video on memory. After the video ended, participants completed the posttest about the video. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to determine if there was an overall difference between group’s posttest scores. Results indicated a significant difference in posttest scores for the three groups. Results indicated the mean score for the control group was significantly different from the receiving group and the combined group. The combined group and receiving group did not differ significantly from one another. An ANOVA was used to determine the overall difference between groups on target questions. There was no statistically significant difference between the groups memory recall for the target questions. Pearson product moment correlation was used to investigate the relationships between participant’s perceived multitasking ability and their posttest score. There was a small negative correlation between the two variables, with high levels of individual beliefs about their ability to multitask associated with lower scores on the posttest. These findings go along with the threaded cognition theory, combining a novel task with a well learned task consumes a significant amount of cognitive resources and interferes with learning. The implications of the results and areas of future research are discussed

Instant Messaging and Employee\u27s Performance: A Text Mining Approach

The adoption of Instant Messaging (IM) applications in the workplace remains contentious due to difficulties in adequately quantifying organizational benefits and how it affects individual performance. Previous research on the impact of IM usage on employee performance has been limited to analyzing primary data (i.e., survey methods), making it difficult to extrapolate the findings to a constantly changing workplace. In contrast, we investigate the relationships between these individuals\u27 IM usage at the workplace and their primary assessment metric in their organization, performance evaluation, using longitudinal data of employees\u27 IM activities and their performance evaluation collected from a US Fortune 500 financial company. Using cutting-edge text-mining techniques, we identify the primary purposes of IM utilization in organizations and assess the impact of those attributes on employee performance. Our findings show that IM in the workplace can improve team communication, knowledge-sharing experience, and social networking among employees, but it can also be disruptive. However, the combined effect of team communication and knowledge sharing on employee performance can overshadow the negative impact of IM interruption on employee performance

The Impact of Instant Messaging in the Workplace

The use of instant messaging (IM) technology at work is controversial, due to the interruptions it may cause and the difficulties associated with quantifying its benefits. In this study, we investigate the use and impact of IM tools in the workplace. Based on the communication performance theories and social network theory, we propose that the use of IM will result in work disturbance, improved communication quality and the establishment of trust between colleagues. These mediating variables will in turn enhance group outcomes. Our research model is validated by a survey of 253 working professionals. The data suggests IM can significantly contribute to communication performance in the workplace, where the benefits overwhelm the work interruption caused. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed