Technology Can Be Distracting If Not Checked - Latest Reality

With improvement in technology by the day, tonnes of new tech gadgets, devices, games and other related innovations to keep us informed and entertained are being developed. No doubt, one of the expectations from the improvement in technology is increased productivity. If not checked, however, the productivity of the average tech gadget or device user today may likely start to decline.

Why do I say so? It simply is because of the distraction that some of these tech gadgets, devices and other activities online are causing, to contribute to the decline in productivity. Ordinarily, one would expect that with the many text tools that are cropping up every day, productivity should also increase automatically. In some cases, this is not so but it largely depends on usage.

The interesting thing about technology is that, both the good side and the bad side of it exist in reality and they both abound on the internet. Before the advent of the internet, however, improvement in technology had always had its good side and bad side.

Take, for instance; the invention of dynamite by Alfred Nobel in the 19th century, to help blow up rocks to allow for construction of roads, rails, etc. also created the opportunities for bad use of technology to start using dynamite in the production of mass military weapons and for use by miscreants to blow up rail lines and banks, etc. so they can rob trains, banks, etc.

This twist in use of an otherwise good process to simplify the use of breaking rocks into use for an evil cause prompted Alfred Nobel to initiate the Nobel Prize for just causes, one of which was the Nobel Prize for peace. This, he did, to make up for the bad use of his invention when an obituary titled “The merchant of death is dead” was mistakenly put out for him when the newspaper thought he had died, not knowing that it was his brother that died.

Today, the social media platforms, created for simplifying access to information and also for the ease of communication among people, are now sort of slowing down work and adversely affecting productivity at work for many adults and in school, for many youths and students.

Instead of facing their studies, many students prefer to watch movies online, play the numerous games available online, chat all day with their friends on the various social media platforms on their devices.

The resultant effect of this is scoring low grades in examinations and in many cases, falling for various scams and antics evolved online by cyber criminals! Parents should try as much as possible to guide their children in this regards.

There should be a specified time that these kids are to be allowed to play games on devices. It should be specified to them that they cannot play games on the devices until they have completed their assignments given to them in school..

Adults are also not left out. Some of them are caught up in this web of information overload, wasting valuable time and other resources in patronising mundane things online, chatting away with friends and watching movies online instead of concentrating on their jobs at work. This leads to a whole lot of inefficiency and reduction in productivity at work.

Having observed the above problems, do we then say we should discard technology and go back to the old ways of doing things? I will say a big ‘NO’ to that. We should continue to advocate for the smart use of technology.

The arrival of technology does not mean that we should discard our time-tested time management processes. There is time for everything. Time management entails that we plan how we use the 24 hours available to us every day.

Plan your time to work or study daily, time to eat daily, time to engage the social media platforms daily, time to sleep to recoup lost energy daily, time to exercise your body daily and lots more. Doing these and adhering strictly to the time allotted to each activity requires a whole lot of discipline.

If you discipline yourself and work strictly in accordance with the time allotted to each activity on daily basis, you are sure to earn the benefits derivable from the use of technology which include increase in productivity, improvement in accessing information and communication.

Here is an excerpt from a similar article computerworld.com that I find quite interesting. “The worst part of all of this is that as Internet distractions gobble up more of our time and attention, we feel like we’re working harder while our real work keeps piling up. So we force ourselves to work more and longer hours and bring more of our work home. The more we work, the more our minds rebel and gravitate to the amusements. It’s a self-reinforcing phenomenon that results in not really enjoying fun, and not getting our work done. Both at work and at home, we’re never fully working and never fully enjoying our time off.”

My most important piece of advice is to learn where to draw a line so as to ensure a balance. Time spent on a number of less beneficial activities such as chatting continuously or reading gossip blogs every second or watching X-rated movies online can, instead, be used to learn something new or even a new language.

There is need for everyone to review their activities online and learn to use technology smartly in order to avoid distractions for our own good as well as the collective good of the society at large.