www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7298
Advertising The relentless influx of emails, cellphone calls and instant messages rec eived by modern workers can reduce their IQ by more than smoking marijua na, suggests UK research. Far from boosting productivity, the constant flow of messages and informa tion can seriously reduce a person's ability to focus on tasks, the stud y of office workers found. Eighty volunteers were asked to carry out problem solving tasks, firstly in a quiet environment and then while being bombarded with new emails an d phone calls. Although they were told not to respond to any messages, r esearchers found that their attention was significantly disturbed. Alarmingly, the average IQ was reduced by 10 points - double the amount s een in studies involving cannabis users. But not everyone was affected b y to the same extent - men were twice as distracted as women. "If left unchecked, info-mania will damage a workers performance by reduc ing their mental sharpness," says Glenn Wilson, a psychiatrist at the Un iversity of London, UK, who carried out the study, sponsored by Hewlett- Packard. Losing sleep Wilson adds that working amid a barrage of incoming information can reduc e a person's ability to focus as much as losing a night's sleep. The study also polled 1100 workers and found many are becoming addicted t o modern modes of communications. One in five workers said they would an swer messages during a meal or a social engagement, while two thirds adm itted to checking emails outside working hours and even on holiday. Christopher Kimble, from the University of York, UK, adds that the qualit y of information contained in communications can also be a major problem for workers. His own research, carried out within a large multinational company, shows that key employees, such as secretaries and IT support staff, can be pa rticularly affected by misleading or incomplete emails. These increase t he time required to complete the task, when a short phone conversation w ould have been much more efficient.
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