Your IQ drops 10 points and other scary side effects of frequently checking email

Mangalore Today News Network

US, July 11, 2014: Scientists have calculated, we spend 13 hours a week on email and unlock our phones 110 times a day, basically. What is that doing to our brains?  The short answer is it’s making them worse, according to the Harvard Business Review and other sources.

 

Here’s the science low down:
• It uses our precious time: Every time you get interrupted — like when your phone buzzes with a new email or your mail tab compels you toward the inbox — you lose 20 minutes. According to a University of California-Irvine study , that’s how long it takes to reacquaint yourself with the details of what you left.

• It makes us dumber and less bright: A psychiatrist at King’s College London University found that fussing with your email leads to a functional drop of 10 IQ points, more than smoking marijuana.

• It slows us down & Confuses: 20 years of psych research shows that switching between tasks takes up to 40% longer than just taking one task at a time.

• It spoils our ability to concentrate: People who multitask all the time have trained their brains out of being able to focus. As Stanford researchers have found, multitasking — like constantly switching between your work and your email — slowly changes your brain structure so that you can’t focus.

The best option might be to take strategy consultant  advice: Change your environment by way of quitting Outlook, closing email tabs, and turning off your phone for a 30-minute chunk of deep-diving work every day.

"The alternative, which most of us consider the norm, is the cognitive equivalent of dieting in a pastry shop," he writes. "We can all muster the will power to resist the temptations, but doing so comes with considerable costs to our limited supply of willpower."

Since the most successful people spend their brain’s reservoir of attention on the most important things and cut down the rest, it’s ridiculous to waste energy on your inbox and mail.  So, think how you are impacted and act smart.