Are distractions good, or are they really as bad as we think they are? How can interruptions lead to more productivity?
In addition to internal distractions, you deal with constant external interruptions every day, which are equally tricky—if not harder—to contend with. While distractions are still bad altogether, they can come with some positive effects.
Let’s look at the pros and cons of distractions and some of the benefits you can gain from getting off track.
A World of Interruptions
Gloria Mark’s book, Attention Span, shows that most of us interrupt ourselves as much as we’re interrupted by external factors. For instance, in the workplace, people check their email 75 times per day on average. Sometimes, an email notification interrupts an ongoing task, but we’ll often stop to check our email without being prompted by a notification. We’ve grown so accustomed to email interruptions that we willingly disrupt our own attention to feed the habit. But Mark says that there’s a chance distractions are good, if only temporarily.
(Shortform note: Though Mark chiefly blames digital media for our culture of distraction, not everyone agrees. In Indistractable, Nir Eyal argues that the real reasons we’re easily distracted are distressing internal emotional and sensory experiences, such as stressful work conditions, chronic fatigue, or relationship problems. External triggers, such as digital technology, are just avenues we use to escape from physical and emotional discomfort. Eyal says that without those internal triggers, we wouldn’t be driven to try to escape by checking our email or social media. If Eyal is right, then cutting back on those interruptions would simply lead us to seek another form of distraction. But as we’ll see, Mark’s research seems to suggest otherwise.)
Interruption’s Pros and Cons
Paradoxically, Mark’s research found that interruptions lead to some productivity gains. For instance, once we’ve been interrupted, we often try to make up for lost time by working even harder. Also, work that gets interrupted stays active in our memory for longer than tasks we’re able to complete, giving us longer to come up with novel and creative solutions to problems. For instance, say a colleague interrupts your work on a presentation and you don’t get back to it soon after. Your subconscious will continue mulling it over and may present you with some new ideas you wouldn’t have come up with if you hadn’t stopped.
(Shortform note: Research suggests there’s another benefit to the ever-shrinking amount of time modern workers are able to focus on one task. In addition to the productivity gains Mark mentions, having to cope with continual interruptions enables better task prioritization because our brains are learning to be more discriminating about what deserves our attention. This adaptation to the digital age helps us manage the overwhelming amount of information we’re presented with daily—in other words, interruptions are rewiring us to better discern what’s important amidst the world’s informational chaos.)
Nevertheless, Mark insists that the net result of interruptions is more negative than positive. In the end, any increase in productivity you experience due to interruptions also comes with higher stress, more time pressure, increased cognitive clutter, and depleted mental reserves. To demonstrate this, Mark conducted a study in which a group of workers were made to stop using email for a week. The results of the decrease in interruptions were striking—participants developed longer attention spans, felt less stressed, and spent more time engaged in mood-boosting direct interpersonal interactions.
(Shortform note: Mark isn’t alone in studying the negative impact of workplace interruptions. In A World Without Email, Cal Newport discusses how email is singularly corrosive to productivity and workplace satisfaction. Newport argues that most knowledge workers spend their days in constant, frantic, unnecessary communication instead of doing the jobs they were hired for. However, Newport’s proposed solutions are institutional—changing workflows, communication methods, and the nature of the jobs employees do. Unless you have the ear of upper management, you may have to adopt other strategies to cut down your daily distractions.)
