[iDC] How to overcome continuous partial attention.

Fri Dec 29 22:58:47 EST 2006

Hi Trebor,

I have updated http://www.p2pfoundation.net/Continuous_Partial_Attentionwith
your comments, I hope that is okay.

I think your contribution equates CPA with information overload, and it is
not the same.

For  example in my case, I ban multiple streams, I really focus on one thing
at the time, i.e. doing my email without music, but that doesn't help me
deal with information overload. I also happen to be in the business of
needing to be both on top of things, and at the bottom of things,i.e. I both
monitor and theorize p2p developments at p2pfoundation.net

So I still need a large intake. My methods are: quickly managing the email
stream twice a day, distinguishing subscriptions from personal messages,
with only the latter getting priority. Doing short answers first, while
putting complex answers in the to do file, warning my correspondents that it
may take some time.

I purposely do not own a laptop, and keep my mobile closed during business
hours (I only use it to keep in touch with my family when I'm not home)

Finally, whenever I'm travelling either for business or for pleasure, I keep
every professional literature away, and only try to do one hour of email
every two days, just filtering it so that I do not have mountains when I
come back. During trips, I read other stuff, fiction, newspapers and
magazines, especially local ones where I travel, just so that my mind gets
some different input once in a while. At home, i.e. at work, I make sure to
read one essay a day (printed from the internet), and at least one chapter
of a book. This way, I do not only get short term input from the internet,
but get the kind of material which keeps me thinking about the larger
temporal frame. Every afternoon, I have a 2-hour nap and reading break for
this. When I'm through reading and sometimes napping, I still have about 45
minutes, when my mind can wander off, i.e. not being reactive.

This being said, I often think I would be better off to do something
creative in the morning, before getting to my addictive email/surfing
habits, which take a combined three hours. However, because I continuously
post things on the blogs and wiki's while I'm digesting this, I also feel
that it is a productive endeavour.

So, it's not perfect, but it seems to be working well enough,

Michel

On 12/29/06, Trebor Scholz <trebor at thing.net> wrote:
>
> "Our husbands come home from work, glued to their Blackberries. They don't
> talk with us or with the children. They don't connect with us. And then,
> when we go to bed,
> they want sex. I don't think so."
>
> -a wife and mother in New York City in November 2006
>
> <http://continuouspartialattention.jot.com/WikiHome>
>
> In 1998 former Microsoft researcher Linda Stone coined the term continuous
> partial attention.
>
> Most of us sit in front of a computer screen while texting with a friend
> or communicate our order in the cafe with the cellphone on our ear. We are
> aware of several things at
> once, shifting our attention to whatever we deem most important at any
> given moment. That's continuous partial attention. Many students are
> affected by this phenomenon
> and the methods with which we engage them need to reflect these changes.
>
> <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6062980.stm>
>
> Snow Crash author Neal Stephenson's website makes his take on continuous
> partial attention abundantly clear. He writes:
>
> "Every productive thing that I do requires ALL my attention. I cannot put
> it any better than Donald Knuth, who writes on his website, 'Email is a
> wonderful thing for people
> whose role in life is to be on top of things. But not for me; my role is
> to be on the bottom of things. What I do takes long hours of studying and
> uninterruptible
> concentration.'"
>
> <http://www.well.com/~neal/>
>
> Continuous partial attention goes beyond multi-tasking and efficiency
> optimization. We are what we are paying attention to. We listen to our ipod
> while on a bicycle. We are
> online while the TV runs in the background. We answer our cellphone while
> checking email. Being part of an opportunity-rich social network is what
> matters most. Many of
> us take calls on our cellphone while we are on lunch break. Or even worse,
> according to a recent study 22% of German cellphone users report having
> interrupted sex to
> answer their cellphone. Stone argues that multi-tasking always aims for
> the most advantageous, beneficial communication link for each moment. Sex
> with your partner may
> be less of an overall opportunity than the call from the boss. However,
> sometimes the moving of attention from one object to the next may not be
> related to an eagerness
> not to miss out -- the mind follows stimuli and many of us get wrapped up
> in the next task before we even realize that it happened.
>
> <http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2005/cell_sex.html>
>
> The 24/7 e-leash makes people work longer hours in virtually any place.
> The work place crisis intrudes into our personal life at any time. Life is
> marked by continuous partial
> attention equipped with anytime, anywhere, any place technologies. A
> recent study by Berry Schwartz at Swarthmore College study directly linked
> what he called the
> vertigo of voice to the widespread increase in depression and anxiety. Too
> much choice makes us unhappy.
>
> <http://www.enotalone.com/article/6839.html>
>
> Therefore, to improve your quality of life, the ability to judge the
> credibility of information becomes essential. Today, groups of people help
> each other to filter information.
> They recommend content on sites like Digg or link to the URL of a website
> that they appreciated thus promoting this site's Google ranking. But
> Google's evaluation is flawed
> because sites like JewWatch score high rankings despite brainless and
> offensive content. Also other ranking systems are controversial as they
> merely indicate popularity,
> which does not inevitably stand for informative and relevant content.
> Britney Spears scores highest rankings in the referral system of the Itunes
> Store and yet listeners with
> refined music taste may not appreciate her stuff. The network on
> Del.icio.us is a helpful filtering system as it relies on a small group of
> people whom we trust. They look
> through a large number of sites and vote for a site or article by saving
> and describing it. Human judgment alongside more sophisticated tools will
> lead to higher
> trustworthiness of online resources.
>
> <http://del.icio.us/help/network>
>
> Many technologists read a large number of weblogs every morning. This is
> followed by a quick check of the latest bookmarks in their Del.icio.usnetwork. After that people
> draw their attention to the dozens if not hundreds of emails in their
> inboxes. It is a constant cycle of intake. And, not paying attention to it
> does not make it stop. The
> default is absorption and not reflection. How much time are we left with
> to think? Standing on terabytes of information does not make us more
> reflective.
>
> Students readily admit to computer addiction or continuous partial
> attention and ask what can be done about it.
>
> Here are a few practical guidelines for students (and the rest of us):
>
> Twenty minutes in the morning should be sufficient to
>
> 1) read all emails (!) and write short responses to mails of low
> importance,
>
> 2) delete uncaught spam and anything that does not need a response,
>
> 3) file away emails that require in-depth responses and
>
> 4) subsequently end up with an empty inbox.
>
> Later in the afternoon, ideally always at the same time, take an hour to
> respond to important messages that require some thought and sensitivity.
>
> Apart from these two times, *email programs are off.*
>
> This is very hard because at the move of a finger, a push of a button,
> your email program pops up. However, with sufficient intentionality it
> should be possible. Just think of
> the fact that fewer interruptions lead to more focused work on your
> projects. You will experience an increased sense of well-being. At work many
> people will not be able to
> stay off email from 9-5pm, of course. But you can adapt these guidelines
> for your schedule.
>
> A 24-hour response time for email messages is appropriate.
>
> A recent New York Times article found that current day students often
> demand a prompt reply to their email requests from professors, which is
> unreasonable. Don't expect
> others to immediately answer and also you do not need to get back right
> away.
>
> Some people developed the habit of not responding to some emails addressed
> to them. (They simply delete them.) This is exceedingly rude and passive
> aggressive. A brief,
> clear email explaining a lack of time or interest could often solve
> unnecessary tensions.
>
> <http://tinyurl.com/ybunfk>
>
> Emails that are charged with conflict should not be responded to right
> away. Save them in your drafts folder and get back to them when you feel
> less afflicted. If the
> conflict is more severe, email is the wrong medium. In that case, a
> face-to-face meeting has a much greater chance to lead to conflict
> resolution.
>
> Strategies to avoid network distraction include intentionally working in a
> place such as a cafe that does not have wireless service. Or, if you are
> disciplined enough, just
> switch off the wireless connection on your computer. Online or off, it
> becomes increasingly important to intently create time to think.
>
> <http://continuouspartialattention.jot.com/WikiHome>
>
> In addition, a clean desktop can contribute to focus. Furthermore, having
> only one application visible makes it easier to concentrate. Applications
> like the free Mac program
> WriteRoom and the very useful but proprietary, for-pay program DevonThink
> switch your computer to full-screen. You write green text on a black
> background just like in
> the old days.
>
> Such tools are helpful but the assumption that continuous partial
> attention can be fixed by yet another software application is misguided.
> Machines are supposed to fix the
> problems that we would not have without them. There is not a technological
> answer to all social problems. In the end, your focus and presence
> throughout the day is not
> entirely determined by your mastery of sociable media skills. However, the
> ability to judge the credibility of information is a core skill that will
> help you to fight continuous
> partial attention.
>
> -ts
>
> blog:
> <http://tinyurl.com/yb2toy>
> <
> http://www.collectivate.net/journalisms/2006/12/29/how-to-overcome-continuous-partial-attention.html
> >
>
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-- 
The P2P Foundation researches, documents and promotes peer to peer
alternatives.

Wiki and Encyclopedia, at http://p2pfoundation.net; Blog, at
http://blog.p2pfoundation.net; Newsletter, at
http://integralvisioning.org/index.php?topic=p2p

Basic essay at http://www.ctheory.net/articles.aspx?id=499; interview at
http://poynder.blogspot.com/2006/09/p2p-very-core-of-world-to-come.html;
video interview, at
http://www.masternewmedia.org/news/2006/09/29/network_collaboration_peer_to_peer.htm
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