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Too Hot, Too Cold

Who could forget the children’s classic, Goldilocks and the Three Bears? Possibly imagined as a cautionary tale, the protagonist burglar inadvertently exposes the child reader to relativism and harmony. Each new encounter within the bear’s home is an exercise in finding balance. Keep this narrative in mind as we serve up some metaphorical bowls of porridge in our Web 2.0 Test Kitchen.

When it comes to our interconnectedness, how much time and attention is just right? The answer is fairly simple, it's relative to the person. We each have our own threshold on sustained attention over a period of time. With regards to social networks, I can honestly say that I haven’t found that balance. I’m either in a prolonged state of connectivity or the esoteric hermit that barely peeks outside his mountaintop cave only to scurry back into obscurity.

My work-related connectedness has been demanding and follows Ranie and Wellman’s (2012) assertion that “many workers experience some negative impacts of ICT on their work life: prolonged working hours, increased availability outside of normal working hours, and a distraction at work” (p. 189). Feelings of anxiety may escalate with increased commitment to tasks. The only option is to push back and resolve the issue.

Recent solutions have included removing notifications from my smartphone and committing to checking email at longer intervals rather than with high frequency, when out of the office. The consequences of cognitive load are obvious. Fragmented attention affects performance by taxing our concentration. Prioritization of personal/private time is key as a healthy work-life balance is crucial to providing thorough and detail-oriented output.

So, how do you balance your network connectedness?

Connections by GDJ CC by 2.0

References
Ranie, L., & Wellman, B. (2012). Networked: the new social operating system. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press.

Comments

  1. UnknownJuly 8, 2017 at 8:05 PM

    I never really thought about how spending many times a day at shorter intervals on my device is affecting my consciousness. Things like social media, email, and personal messaging at constant intervals does cause me to be distracted, unengaged, and builds anxiety. I keep hearing that automation and technology will remove the need for 40 hour work weeks. Yet, the work just keeps coming. Finding the balance for me comes with deadlines. Once a task has a due date I can plan accordingly. Then I’m done. That or I just become disinterested and stop. I should track how much time I spend here and there checking my phone. I bet it’s more than I’d like to admit.

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