The impact of technology on work and well-being Technology has significantly changed the way work is conducted as it has shifted much of the work from face-to-face interactions to being done at the desk through email, Zoom, or Slack. Studies indicate that people now spend nearly 90% of their time at their desks due to technology, leading to concerns about well-being, stress, and burnout. The speaker suggests that a focus on well-being is essential due to the negative impact of extended tech use, and positive emotions have been shown to enhance productivity and creativity through the broadened and build theory. Transcript: Speaker 1 Oh, it affects it a lot. I’m trying to reframe the conversation. So technology was created to enhance our capabilities. You know, we can write faster. We can connect with people faster. We can produce more. A lot of the work would formally have been done in face-to-face interaction in meetings or going into people’s offices. It’s now being done at the desktop. Through email or through Zoom or Slack. There were some studies done in the 60s, 70s, 80s where the researchers followed people around and tracked the percentage of time they spent at their desks. And this was roughly about 30% of their day. In 2019, I did a study with colleagues, and we found that people spent nearly 90% of their time at their desks. So on the one hand, we might think it’s more efficient. But there’s a cost to it, and the cost is our well-being. The cost is stress and extended use of tech without breaks can even lead to burnout. And so I’d like to turn this conversation around and think about how we can focus on well-being. And there’s a psychological theory, it’s called the broadened and build theory, that showed that when people experience positive emotions, they actually produced more, they were More creative. (Time 0:03:46)
Impact of Technology on Work Environment Technology has significantly transformed the work environment by shifting work activities from face-to-face interaction to desktop-based tasks. Studies show that people now spend nearly 90% of their time at their desks, compared to about 30% in the past, due to the use of technology such as email, Zoom, and Slack for communication and productivity. Transcript: Speaker 1 Oh, it affects it a lot. I’m trying to reframe the conversation. So technology was created to enhance our capabilities. You know, we can write faster. We can connect with people faster. We can produce more. A lot of the work would formally have been done in face-to-face interaction in meetings or going into people’s offices. It’s now being done at the desktop. Through email or through Zoom or Slack. There were some studies done in the 60s, 70s, 80s where the researchers followed people around and tracked the percentage of time they spent at their desks. And this was roughly about 30% of their day. In 2019, I did a study with colleagues, and we found that people spent nearly 90% of their time at their desks. (Time 0:03:46)
Importance of Specificity in Weightlifting Community The weightlifting community emphasizes the importance of specificity in their language and thinking around recovery, exertion, and varying workout routines. Simply lifting weights for extended hours every day is not the approach to getting stronger. Rest, different stimuli, sleep, recovery techniques, and post-workout nutrition are all crucial elements in the pursuit of strength. Transcript: Speaker 2 I think the metaphors in this conversation are important. So over the past year, I’ve been taking weightlifting more seriously again. And one thing you notice when you get into a real gym rat community of weightlifters is the unbelievable specificity of their language and their thinking around recovery, around exertion, Around varying the kinds of things you do, right? You know, you might think naively, you know, if you want to get stronger, you go in, and you just weight lift as many hours a day as you can and do it again the next day and the next day and the Next day. And like the answer is no, you don’t do that. You need rest to differ the kinds of stimuli if you want to make yourself stronger, right? Like all these different ways of sleep and recover and you dummy bears after your workout and all these things. (Time 0:09:12)
Cognitive Resources Need Rest and Recovery Like Physical Resources Cognitive resources, like physical resources, need rest, varied stimulus, and recovery. The lack of vocabulary around attention and exhaustion is evident, as we struggle to articulate the need for rest and recovery for cognitive resources. The analogy between cognitive and physical resources is reasonable, as exerting mental effort for a long time can lead to mental exhaustion and burnout, which is a form of mental injury. Transcript: Speaker 2 Like all these different ways of sleep and recover and you dummy bears after your workout and all these things. And it really struck me how thin our vocabulary and our teaching around attention is if we do have these cognitive resources to get exhausted that have rhythms that need rest, that need To be varied in the kind of stimulus you get, we almost have no way of talking about that. It’s like, well, you kind of get tired and maybe when you get tired, you should sleep if you can. But if you can’t, you should just keep looking at your computer. And it struck me throughout the book that you’re sort of framing cognitive resources as more like physical resources. It actually have many of the same dynamics of rest and rhythms and so on. So I wanted to hear first if that’s a reasonable read. Speaker 1 I think it’s an excellent analogy. So, you know, I gave a talk not too long ago. And at the end of the talk, this person who sat in the back of the room asked me a question and she said, can our minds become injured if we exert mental effort for a long time the same way that When we lift weights for a long time, our bodies can get injured. And I thought about it. And I said, yes, yes, we can. Our minds can get injured. It’s called burnout. And it’s a really extreme form of mental exhaustion. (Time 0:09:52)
Impact of Email on Workload and Stress The use of technology, such as email, has expanded the scope of work, leading to an additional workload for individuals. Studies have shown that people check email an average of 77 times a day, causing stress. An organization that cut off email for some employees found that without email, people were less stressed, became more social, and enjoyed the experience more. Research with physicians revealed that spending over an hour a day dealing with email messages was correlated with higher stress levels. Therefore, there is a causal relationship between email use, workload, and stress. The duration of email usage directly affects stress levels, as evidenced by empirical measurements of heart rate and stress levels in individuals. Transcript: Speaker 1 Yeah, so let’s start with talking about how our scope of work has expanded with tech use. So before email, communications were a lot slower. There were phone calls, there were written communications. But now people have an additional workload on top of their other workload, which is answering Slack messages, texting, email. In fact, we find people check email on average 77 times a day, which is quite a lot. And we know that email creates stress. We know this from studies. I did one study some time ago where we cut off email in an organization for some people for a five day work week. And without email, people were less stressed. And we measured this empirically with heart rate monitors. We found that their stress went down. We also found that people became more social. They actually walked around and visited people in their offices. And people reported enjoying this experience a lot more. So we know that email causes stress. It’s not just correlation, but there is causality there. I’ve also done a study with physicians. Physicians can get really exhausted. And we found that physicians averaged over an hour a day dealing with their email messages. And they were wearables, which measured their stress. And we found a correlation that the more time on their inbox, the higher was their stress. So we know that duration of email affects stress. (Time 0:14:49)
Impact of Technology on Workload and Stress The use of technology, particularly email and messaging, has expanded the scope of work, adding an additional workload on top of existing responsibilities. Research shows that people check email an average of 77 times a day, leading to increased stress. A study where email was cut off for some individuals for a week revealed a reduction in stress levels, measured using heart rate monitors. Additionally, the absence of email led to increased social interaction and enjoyment of work experience, indicating that email can cause stress and hinder social interactions in the workplace. Transcript: Speaker 1 Yeah, so let’s start with talking about how our scope of work has expanded with tech use. So before email, communications were a lot slower. There were phone calls, there were written communications. But now people have an additional workload on top of their other workload, which is answering Slack messages, texting, email. In fact, we find people check email on average 77 times a day, which is quite a lot. And we know that email creates stress. We know this from studies. I did one study some time ago where we cut off email in an organization for some people for a five day work week. And without email, people were less stressed. And we measured this empirically with heart rate monitors. We found that their stress went down. We also found that people became more social. They actually walked around and visited people in their offices. And people reported enjoying this experience a lot more. So we know that email causes stress. (Time 0:14:49)
Evolution of Attention Spans in Computer Usage The average attention span on computer screens was measured to be two and a half minutes 20 years ago, but now it has decreased to an average of 47 seconds, as found by studies that used computer logging software. This indicates a significant decline in attention span over the past two decades. Transcript: Speaker 2 You’re one of the few people who’s actually measured the way and length on which people pay attention to their computers. Going back now, I think 20 years or so, so tell me how that’s changed. Speaker 1 So usually what studies do is they ask people to self-report how much time you spend. And people are just notoriously bad at estimating time. So we followed people around with stopwatches in the workplace. And 20 years ago, we found that the average attention span was two and a half minutes. And then came along a very sophisticated computer logging software. And we found 20 years later that attention spans averaged 47 seconds on any screen. And this was replicated by other people as well. (Time 0:18:44)
Metáfora del residuo en la pizarra para explicar efecto del cambio de foco atencional. Transcript: Speaker 1 People tend to think they’re interrupted, they do something, and then they come right back. That’s not how it works. So people experience a chain of interruptions. You can think of these as nested interruptions. So you get interrupted, then you get interrupted from that and interrupted from that. And people are working on different tasks, different projects, before they return to that original thing. So from our statistics, we find it’s an average of about two and a quarter intervening projects that people work on. So imagine that you have a whiteboard in your mind. And for everything we do, for every task, we need to have a mental model of that task. We need a schema. And so you’ve got this schema about the task you’re working on right now, and then you suddenly switch your attention. It’s like erasing that whiteboard and writing the new information you need, the new mental model. Then we switch again. And we keep doing that. Now, I’m not talking about switching between word and email and Slack, which might be within the same project. And if we’re switching screens within the same project, then we’re talking about every 47 seconds switching. But when we’re thinking about a larger project, then it comes to about 10 and a half minutes. But the point is we switch our attention a lot. And this whiteboard analogy, I find to be very, very useful. And the reason is because sometimes when we switch our attention, we might get really caught up in something like the news. You’re looking at the news, and you read about some horrific event, you know, or these days, political news. And then you switch back to your project, and that event stays with you. It’s a residue. And it’s just like with an internal whiteboard, it leaves a residue. Sometimes you can’t erase that whiteboard in real life completely, right? You see traces of what was written on it. Same thing happens in our minds. And that residue can interfere with our current task at hand. (Time 0:20:50)
atención metáfora
The Impact of Frequent Attention Switching on Work Productivity Frequent attention switching, even within the same project, occurs approximately every 47 seconds when switching screens. For larger projects, the switch occurs every 10 and a half minutes. This constant switching can leave a residue in our minds, similar to writing on a whiteboard, which can interfere with the current task at hand. Transcript: Speaker 1 Then we switch again. And we keep doing that. Now, I’m not talking about switching between word and email and Slack, which might be within the same project. And if we’re switching screens within the same project, then we’re talking about every 47 seconds switching. But when we’re thinking about a larger project, then it comes to about 10 and a half minutes. But the point is we switch our attention a lot. And this whiteboard analogy, I find to be very, very useful. And the reason is because sometimes when we switch our attention, we might get really caught up in something like the news. You’re looking at the news, and you read about some horrific event, you know, or these days, political news. And then you switch back to your project, and that event stays with you. It’s a residue. And it’s just like with an internal whiteboard, it leaves a residue. Sometimes you can’t erase that whiteboard in real life completely, right? You see traces of what was written on it. Same thing happens in our minds. And that residue can interfere with our current task at hand. (Time 0:21:56)
The Power of Random Reinforcement in Email Checking The notion of random reinforcement in email checking, where occasionally important and uplifting emails are received, creates a conditioned behavior of constantly checking the inbox. This type of conditioning is difficult to extinguish in psychology, making it a powerful influence on behavior. Transcript: Speaker 1 It’s a great question. So first of all, this notion of random reinforcement, every so often, when you check email, you might get a really, really important, wonderful email, like an invitation to give a keynote Talk. And it may not happen very often, and it certainly doesn’t happen for all our emails. But it happens enough that it has created a kind of condition behavior for us to keep checking that inbox. And this kind of, you know, random reinforcement conditioning is actually the hardest behavior to extinguish in psychology. If you have reinforcement on a regular schedule, like every other email is going to be some really uplifting email. (Time 0:26:56)
Los cronotipos determinan períodos del día en donde podemos hacer mayor esfuerzo cognitivo Transcript: Speaker 1 People tend to think of attention as being a binary state, you’re focused or you’re unfocused. But when I was studying this, I realized that people can be engaged with things in different ways. You can be engaged with writing a paper, which can be challenging or you’re reading difficult material. You can also be engaged with watching a YouTube video or playing a game like Candy Crush, what I call road activities. You’re not exerting cognitive effort. It turns out people are happiest when they do road activities. And so these are very different forms of engagement. And so we did a study where we asked people throughout the day for the thing you were just doing, how engaged were you and how challenged were you. This enabled us to disentangle these different kinds of engagement. And we find that if we look at those times when people are engaged and challenged, we find rhythms. We find that there are certain peak times during the day. Generally, we find two peaks for people. There are individual differences depending on your chronotype, if you’re an early type or a late type. But most people have a peak focus time, mid-morning, and then another peak focus time, mid-afternoon. And this corresponds with the ebb and flow of our cognitive resources. It shows that it’s just really hard to have this continuous focus for many hours throughout the day. Instead, we see peaks and valleys of focused attention. (Time 0:32:55)
atención cognición
Reevaluating the Culture of Being ‘Always On’ The culture of constantly being in front of a computer to signal work and convey hard work has created pressure to always be working. There is a badge of honor associated with working longer than others, while taking breaks or engaging in mundane activities like peeling potatoes may not signal productivity to others. However, engaging in activities like these can actually help the mind wander and lead to the generation of creative ideas. Transcript: Speaker 1 I think that you’ve nailed it. We’ve created a culture where we feel very pressured to always be on. So when people are sitting in front of a computer, that signals to their managers and colleagues that they’re working. And it’s very important to convey that signal that we’re working hard. And it’s a badge of honor to be able to work longer than everyone else. And to pull ourselves away, signals that were not working. I read that Wittgenstein claimed that you love to peel potatoes because he came up with his greatest ideas while he was peeling potatoes. And someone looking at Wittgenstein would say, okay, this guy is not working. He’s not thinking. He’s not sitting in front of a pad of paper and writing. But that was his way to help his mind wander and think of creative ideas. (Time 0:38:46)
Challenges of Modern Workplace Culture Modern workplace culture has created a pressure to always appear busy, even though this does not align with how creative work happens. The prevalence of constant interruptions from tools like Slack and email has raised questions about why modern organizations are poorly designed to foster healthy attention and deep creativity. It’s crucial for managers and decision makers to prioritize employees’ well-being, by allowing long breaks, outdoor walks, social interactions, and creating a culture where people are not penalized for not being constantly available. Transcript: Speaker 2 But doesn’t this suggest that in a way that is a little bit hard to explain from an economic perspective that we have really screwed up modern workplace culture? It seems to me that we imagine productivity almost as if we were watching somebody be productive in a movie. We’ve created this pressure to always look like you’re working, even though we know that is not how at least creative work happens. That seems a little difficult to explain, given that in theory, workplaces want people to do their most creative work. And yet it seems very, very prevalent. It’s everywhere. Then we’ve added Slack and email, these constant interruptions. And this to me is a pretty consistent puzzle about the modern industrial organizations. Why are they so poorly built to furnish healthy attention and deep creativity and focus? Speaker 1 Yeah, it really is a great question. I think that managers and decision makers need to be educated. That it’s so important to consider employees well-being. And I think that that’s missing from what they’re thinking about. That it’s really important to give people permission to be able to take long breaks when they need them, to take walks outside, to have social interactions with other people, to create A culture where people are not penalized for not answering (Time 0:39:55)
Creating a Holistic Plan for Higher Attention Well-being Establishing a holistic plan for improving attention well-being involves considering components like taking sufficient breaks, embracing the concept of ‘yo-haku no-bi’ (the beauty of empty space), and focusing on intentionally expanding one’s fuel tank. This plan aims to prevent the fuel tank from depleting and potentially enlarge its overall capacity, promoting overall higher attention well-being. Transcript: Speaker 2 And a lot of people in the new year, they decided to go on a new fitness plan. They started a new diet. They tried being vegetarian, whatever it might be. And on a lot of these, there is a lot of good advice out there for how to have a holistic plan. If I want to figure out how to run a marathon, there are no end of marathon training programs I can become part of. But if what I want to do is have a higher attention well-being, what does that plan look like? What are the components you would tell somebody to focus on? If they wanted to spend three months trying to treat their attention better, trying to keep their fuel tank from going as low, intentionally, and maybe trying to expand the size of that Fuel tank such that it is a bit bigger just in general. Where does somebody start? What is your program? Speaker 1 So the first thing I would recommend is sufficient breaks. And there is this expression in Japanese that I found so valuable. It’s called yo-haku no-bi, which is the beauty of empty space. And I was really struck by it. I visited beautiful gardens in Kyoto. (Time 0:43:26)
Challenges of Building Attention Capacity in Kids in a Digital Age The modern world’s fast-paced media, social media, and entertainment with quick cuts and vibrant colors are impacting the attention capacity of children, making it a concern for parents. The concern is not about removing kids from modern technology but about helping them develop a strong and rich capacity for attention to enjoy things that require focus and energy. The speaker discusses the need to focus on helping kids develop better attention and a stronger relationship with their own attention similar to how physical health and historical knowledge are emphasized. Additionally, the speaker highlights that executive function, the CEO of the mind, is not fully mature for kids and doesn’t mature until they are around 10 years old. Transcript: Speaker 2 How about for kids, or maybe more to the point for parents of kids? So something that I worry about is, I think that the world, my two-year-old, my almost five-year-old are growing up in, it’s designed to drive their attention capacity to zero, right? The social media keeps getting faster, tick-tock and algorithms. And it’s only, I think, to get worse in many ways with AI. You talk about research in the book, but I think we all know this, that the cuts in movies and TV shows are quicker. Sometimes I try to turn on the old Mr. Rogers for them, and they look at it like, what the hell is this? And then you turn on Paw Patrol or something, and the speed of cuts and the vibrancy of colors, and they’re just staring at it open-mouthed. I’m not somebody who believes you can protect your kids or even should pull them out of all modern technology. I’m not a no-screen time parent. But I do worry about how they’re going to build a strong capacity for attention and a rich capacity for attention so that they can enjoy a lot of the things that can only be enjoyed when You can give them that kind of focus and that kind of energy. So I’m curious if this is something you think about or talk about with people. I mean, what would it mean to help kids develop better attention and a better relationship to their own attention in the same way that we try to think about doing that for their physical Health or for their knowledge of the dates of historical events? Speaker 1 I worry about this a lot. So executive function, that’s the CEO of the mind. It’s not yet mature for kids, and it doesn’t really mature until kids are around 10 years old. (Time 0:48:41)
Being a Positive Role Model for Children Parents need to be mindful of being positive role models for their children by prioritizing their attention over screens. Engaging with children rather than constantly being on phones or tablets is crucial in shaping their perception of normal behavior and setting a good example for them to follow. Transcript: Speaker 1 And so it’s so important that parents be role models for their children. A few months ago, I was in Riverside Park in New York, and it was a beautiful sunny day. People were sitting on the park benches, and two people really caught my attention. There was a toddler that was tugging on her mother to pay attention to her. And the mother was just engulfed in her cell phone. And also just recently, I was in the supermarket, somebody puts their child into the card and pulls a tablet out of her purse, gives it to the child. I was in a bus as soon as the child sits down, a smartphone is given to the child. So children are learning that this is normal behavior. So don’t ever put your computer or phone. Don’t ever put that first before your own child. If your child needs your attention, get off your screen and give your attention to your child. And above all, you know, make sure that you are setting a good example, and you’re not on your phone, on your screen, around the clock, because your children, they pick that up. (Time 0:51:06)