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Researcher Interview #1 Part 4
Click to Listen (4 1/2 minutes)
MT: This is Maura Thomas from RegainYourTime.com. Thanks for coming back to hear part four of my interview with Dr. John Dovidio, psychology professor at Yale University. You can see the previous posts by clicking the link at the top of this page and prior pages.
…That’s actually a really great perspective. I talk to a lot of people often who are becoming a little bit overwhelmed with the idea that, you know, “there is just too much and I can’t catch up.” And I…I run into people every day who are deciding, in fact they even put it in these terms, “I’m trying to decide what my limit is. And…you know, ok I did email, and now I’ve done Facebook, but I’m not going to do Twitter! That’s just where I’m drawing the line, and anything else that comes out, I’m just all done.” (laughing)
JD: (laughing) Mmm hmmm.
MT: So…and there certainly is an age component to this. But it’s…it’s really interesting to hear you say…talk about how humans have overcome this throughout history and…and…how we’re actually really good at it, and perhaps people should…take heart in that…in that idea.
JD: Oh yeah, I’m mean, we’ve…we’ve overcome worse!
MT: Sure. Sure.
JD: (laughing) We could overcome quite a bit!
MT: (laughing) Right.
JD: But I do…you know, at the same time, I think you’re also right by saying…and the people you quoted are right by saying, you’ve got to be cautious, realizing that whatever benefits might…benefits might be coming with the software and hardware development that we see in communication, we have to always understand that there is probably something that’s going to be lost because we just have a limited amount of time, we have a limited capacity for attention, …we have a limited capacity for being able to think and make decisions. Those are the bounds of being human, just like any other animal. And so how do we actually teach people to use a lot of these media in a way that works to their benefit so that they don’t become overwhelmed or develop those habits so strongly that they’re hard to reverse.
You won’t remember this, and I really don’t remember it personally, but when television came in, you know, that changed everything, right? People said, “well television is taking away from human relations. People are no longer talking to one another, they are no longer looking face-to-face, what they’re doing is they’re sitting side-by-side, and the quality of their relationships is going to go down, and tv is going to be the end of everything because people are going to become sedentary, they’re going to become passive, they’re going to need more stimulation. And they’re going to lose sight between what’s real and what’s everyday life.” And to some extent that was true, but then people adjust to it and now we look at tv and we see that as “how…how benign and passive.”
MT: That was part four of my interview with Dr. John Dovidio, psychology professor at Yale University. I hope you’ll come back tomorrow for the fifth and final portion of the interview where I’ll ask Dr. Dovidio about the value of reflection and quiet moments. Also, if you’re interested in reading up on the current research, please visit the Research and Resources page of this website. This is Maura Thomas from RegainYourTime.com. Thanks for visiting!
(Click here for the conclusion of the interview.)
Using Technology to Bring More Control into Your Life
In some ways, we are more connected than ever: Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, YouTube…these tools give us unprecedented opportunity to connect with and attract the attention of people who in the past seemed much farther removed: celebrities, politicians, corporate executives.
I’m also beginning to realize that technology provides plenty of tools to keep others at arm’s length if we so choose. First came Otherinbox. This allows me to receive emails, or not, while still keeping my email address private. Many benefits are exchanged for the implicit permission to be marketed to via email. Now I can reap those benefits by providing an Otherinbox address, all the while still controlling whether or not I actually receive those marketing emails, and when. Otherinbox has given me much more control over my email inbox…all the advantages of a “junk box” with none of the inconveniences.
Recently, I signed up for a Google Voice account. It’s new and different and so understandably, I still have some reservations about it. However, I’m realizing that Google Voice can be to my phone number what Otherinbox is to my email. It gives me the control to take calls, block calls, let them roll into my voicemail, and even listen in while the message is being recorded. I can also make calls with my Google Voice number, or give it out when I’m asked, thus protecting my “real” phone number, and preventing corporations and marketers from reaching me directly if I don’t want them to.
I had been thinking lately that privacy was dead. Maybe it’s just getting a new beginning.
A Positive Effect of Twitter on Communication
Ok, look…I am not a social media fanatic. I never had a MySpace page, I only have a passing interest in Facebook and LinkedIn, and the first time I tried Twitter over a year ago, I hated it and promptly disengaged. I’ve only been using it again for about 6 weeks but I’m beginning to catch glimpses of how this might be a truly powerful force for change in the world.
I’m only making this connection because I read Al Gore’s fantastic book, The Assault on Reason. It was published in 2007 and already, thankfully, the return to reason that he so convincingly outlines is needed, is coming to pass. The book is, I think, one of the most important so far this decade and well worth the read. The 30-second summary is that our democracy is in serious trouble because reasoned national debate is impossible with only one-way communication. On the cover flap, Gore writes, “We live in an age when the 30-second television spot is the most powerful force shaping the electorate’s thinking…”
It’s almost as though he is chronicling the change in real time as he writes in Chapter 5:
“Without printed words — and the knowledge conveyed by them to the masses who became literate — there would have been no Bill of Rights in America to protect the freedom and dignity of individuals…As soon as complex thoughts could be easily conveyed from one individual to the mass of others — and as soon as others could easily receive them and potentially agree with them — every individual suddenly had the potential for leveraging mass political power.”
Turns out that translating complex thoughts into 140 characters or less is just as powerful, and the combination of Twitter and the simple transfer of information allowed by the internet, is exponentially so. The beginning of this transformation back to two-way communication started of course, with the internet, and gained real traction with bloggers. Most media pundits admit that the 2006 election was the first in which the bloggers, real people with no particular fame or influence up to that point, suddenly DID have influence. The blogosphere became the public response to the corporate news and the campaign spin.
Now we have corporations forced to listen and participate in the dialogue when an unfairly treated employee or customer with a Twitter account has the power to spread their experience like wildfire, even faster and broader than email. How about Twestival, the “festival on Twitter,” which raised over $250,000 and brought worldwide public awareness to the global water crisis? Even great news stories, like the plane in the Hudson River, is breaking first on Twitter. If you’re not yet convinced, read Mashable’s list of Top 10 Extraordinary Twitter Moments. It’s like we’ve entered the age where people, ordinary individuals who take an interest in a cause, issue, or event, have the ability to shape global news. This is true democracy, where people have the power to influence the decisions of those who represent them. And I mean democracy in every sense of the word, not just politically. If we combine the reasoned decisions and ideas of individuals, with the instant global transmission allowed by technology like Twitter, the result is so far looking a lot more like Al Gore’s prediction from his book that two-way communication plus national (even global) debate equals better-functioning democracy.
As The Assault on Reason went to press, Biz Stone and Evan Williams were just figuring out how to send their first “tweets.” But I think Al Gore, and perhaps someone else, saw it coming. You may not agree with his politics, but it doesn’t take away from the fact that Gore is an eloquent and inspirational speaker and writer. So in summary, I’d like to leave you with a final passage from his book, which contains a quote from another eloquent speaker:
“Today, reason is under assault by forces using more sophisticated techniques: propaganda, psychology, electronic mass media. Yet democracy’s advocates are beginning to use their own sophisticated techniques: the Internet, online organizing, blogs, and wikis. I feel more confident than ever before that democracy will prevail and that the American people are rising to the challenge of reinvigorating self-government…Dr. Martin Luther King once said, ‘Perhaps a new spirit is rising among us. If it is, let us trace its movements and pray that our own inner being may be sensitive to its guidance, for we are deeply in need of a new way beyond the darkness that seems so close around us.’”
I believe it is democracy’s advocates who represent the new spirit. But Twitter may be the first of the new vehicles we’ve needed for it to really get traction.
3 Tips to Beat Procrastination & Get Important Stuff Done
I saw this in my Tweet stream this morning:
and I had way more than 140 characters to say about it, so I was inspired to write a blog post about it today. Thanks @alexismadrigal, I hope this helps!
First, I suggest very selective and short-term time-blocking. YOU are the first person you’ll cancel an appointment with, so sometimes time-blocking can be tricky. But there are three rules that help make it more effective:
- Don’t block your time too far in the future, because it’s too uncertain. To get important things done, block time on your calendar today, or tomorrow, but go too far in advance and your priorities will change. and you’ll end up breaking those appointments with yourself. One exception to this: if you have an important deadline in the future, it’s helpful to block some time a day or so before that deadline in order to finish up the project, add final thoughts, or give it one last once-over (or actually do it, if you’re a deadline junkie!)
- Use time-blocking very selectively – only for very important things, and only once in a while. If you try to do it too often, it will just get in the way, and become routine. You’ll start breaking those appointments with yourself, and then you’ll have lost the effectiveness of the technique.
- Don’t make your time-blocks too long. It’s very difficult to block out a whole day, for example. Focus waxes and wanes, things like hunger cause distractions, the desire to “check on things” (voicemail, email, Twitter stream, etc) become too tempting. I find time-blocking works best in 2-hour chunks or less.
Ok, next tip. Even if you haven’t time-blocked, when you decide you are going to spend some time on an important task, ELIMINATE any possible distractions! This seems like a no-brainer but I’m always surprised at how uncommon it is. Close your email client, shut off any Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn (etc) notifications, silence your ringer, shut off the television, etc. If you need noise, play instrumental or classical music. Song lyrics tend to send our brain off in distracting directions, as does the tendency to sing along. Another option: white noise. Turn on a quiet fan, or go outside to the sounds of nature. Small personal rewards can help motivate you as well: If I spend 30 minutes on this, I’ll allow myself 10 minutes of a video game, or blog surfing, or a grande mocha latte, or whatever appeals to you.
One last tip…if you have something important to get done, but you just can’t seem to get your head in the game, grab a piece of paper and a pen and try “stream of consciousness” writing. This helps to eliminate mental clutter and uncover those intellectual gems you know are in there somewhere. Don’t censor yourself, and don’t try to organize as you write. Just write whatever comes to you, and chances are before too long your brain will find its way back to that important thing you’re trying to get done. Or the worst case is you’ll end up with some other pearl of wisdom or great idea. Our brains are much better at creative, strategic thinking and problem solving than they are at remembering details, and if we clear our mind of the minutiae (mental clutter), the “good stuff” often appears.
I hope you found this helpful!