'Infomania' worse than marijuana

meditraitor

Do you suffer from infomania

Workers distracted by email and phone calls suffer a fall in IQ more than twice that found in marijuana smokers, new research has claimed.
The study for computing firm Hewlett Packard warned of a rise in "infomania", with people becoming addicted to email and text messages.

Researchers found 62% of people checked work messages at home or on holiday.

The firm said new technology can help productivity, but users must learn to switch computers and phones off.

Losing sleep

The study, carried out at the Institute of Psychiatry, found excessive use of technology reduced workers' intelligence.

Those distracted by incoming email and phone calls saw a 10-point fall in their IQ - more than twice that found in studies of the impact of smoking marijuana, said researchers.

More than half of the 1,100 respondents said they always responded to an email "immediately" or as soon as possible, with 21% admitting they would interrupt a meeting to do so.

The University of London psychologist who carried out the study, Dr Glenn Wilson, told the Daily Mail that unchecked infomania could reduce workers' mental sharpness.

Those who are constantly breaking away from tasks to react to email or text messages suffer similar effects on the mind as losing a night's sleep, he said

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4471607.stm

rubadub

Ban the emails, vicious gateway drug, twice as likely to end up the red eyed crazed loon mugging grannies for your next fix of phone credit

Goodshape

More addicted to boards than email/texting, and it definitely doesn't help with productivity.

Also have a habit of staying up until the three o'clock downtime just hitting refresh - there's always something else to read while your waiting for that reply.

I live in fear of my employers checking my Firefox history. A different boards.ie page loaded every five minutes for the past three months. In a way I look forward to the day when this place finally succumbs to the high levels of muppetry you find on other message boards. Maybe then I can get a 'real' life


(I also like marijuana)

Kone

Man I started off doing a SMS a day, then it was 2 SMS and a phone call a day, now I am luck if I can get through the morning without a few emails!

jor el

...62% of people checked work messages at home or on holiday...
...with 21% admitting they would interrupt a meeting to do so...

OK, who the hell are these people? Most people I know can't wait to get away from emails and phones at the end of each day. I don't know of anyone who would actually leave a meeting to go check their email.

This is just another BS survey that some half-wit cooked up in order to justify his (probably over payed) position in some university.

Madness I tells ya.

steveland?

rubadub wrote:

Ban the emails, vicious gateway drug

If you use e-mail you WILL IRC PEOPLE

stevenmu

So if I give up email and take up smoking marijuana again do I get my ten points back ?

*Angel*

I check my e-mail and boards, and I guess I text quite a bit so am I dumb? I would get a lot more done if they didn't exist, but what you gonna do?

hullaballoo

with a name like *Angel*? Dumb?!lol

i've noticed my exams have taken somewhat of a backseat since boards came into my life!

Trojan

Similar:

Cell Phone Users Interrupt Sex for Phone Calls

April 11, 2005
Fourteen percent of the world's cell phone users report that they have stopped in the middle of a sex act to answer a ringing wireless device, Ad Age reported.

The highest incidence of cellular interruptus was found in Germany and Spain, where 22 percent of users interrupted sex to answer their cell phones; the lowest was in Italy, where only 7 percent reported doing so. In the U.S., the figure was 15 percent, the magazine said, citing a study conducted by BBDO Worldwide and Proximity Worldwide.

"People can't bear to miss a call," said Christine Hannis, head of communications for BBDO Europe. "Everybody thinks the next call can be something really exciting. And getting so many calls proves social success," she said. "It fulfills a fundamental insecurity."

Capt'n Midnight

I loved the way Stephen Fry described the mobile phone as an attention grabbing device and how the art of conversation was lost having a phone go
SpeakToME..SpeakToME..SpeakToME..SpeakToME..

Was it walmart where they banned email during the day ?
mail to 10am and after 4pm but the mail server was down in between