Diversity Woman Magazine

FALL 2015

Leadership and Executive Development for women of all races, cultures and backgrounds

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DW Life > d i v e r s i t y w o m a n . c o m Fa l l 2 0 1 5 D I V E R S I T Y W O M A N 45 Worried that your smart devices are making you dumb? Here's how to make sure that your gadgets are working for you, not against you. "Channel surfing through life" Edward Hallowell, MD, a psychiatrist and author, has spent his entire career specializing in attention defcit disorder. Over the past 15 years, he's heard from an increasing number of adults who be- lieve they sufer from ADD. "Most of them don't," he says, "but they have what I call a severe case of modern life." Hallowell explores this phenomenon in his newest book, Driven to Distraction at Work: How to Focus and Be More Produc- tive. "Te electronic age has been training us to pay less attention," he explains. "We want sound bites, we want to cut to the chase, and we get impatient when that doesn't happen. We are channel surfng through life, and the minute something becomes the least bit tedious or frustrat- ing, we switch the channel." He adds, "Tat's fne if you are running a business meeting with a long agenda and you want to just tick of one item after another." It becomes problematic if you are doing work that requires deep thought or focused attention, like writing or synthesizing. All things in moderation While many lament the lure of the In- ternet, few would be willing or able to do without it. In a 2014 study by the Pew Research Center, 61 percent of workers identifed e-mail as the most important tool they use in their jobs, followed by the Internet at 54 percent. Te challenge lies in moderating our use. "Te best analogy is food," says Hallowell. By Karen Eisenberg O n a typical workday, Nancy Shafer spends more than 10 hours at her desk. After she leaves the ofce, her work continues, with the entrepreneur often working until 10 p.m. Yet she can't shake the feeling that she's not getting anything done. "I've sent e-mails, I've responded to text messages, I've read things on the Internet, but I haven't completed anything," says Shafer, the CEO and founder of BRAVO! Events by De- sign, an experiential marketing frm in Washington, DC. To Your Health DW Life > DW Life Working Smart with Technology THINKSTOCKPHOTOS Shafer believes the Internet is part of the problem, and her view is shared by many. "Everyone I speak with struggles with this—no matter what career they are in," says Natalie Houston, a personal pro- ductivity coach in Boston. "Te Internet makes it easy to spend an entire day be- ing very busy without getting any real work done." "It's a double-edged sword," says Nicole Chamblin, a Washington, DC–based pro- ductivity expert. "Te Internet is an in- credible tool that has opened up our access to information. But for the same reasons, it presents a huge source of distraction."

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