This article is an extract from “Are Interruptions Stealing Your Time and Costing You a Bucket Full of Money?”
Make no mistake; we are hard wired to be drawn to the new, that’s how we evolved as human beings. This may have been helpful when we were cave men and women to know of everything that is going on around us all the time but it causes some problems in this age of technology.
This is why emails and phone calls are so magnetic, we just want the new, it’s a primitive urge. We also become addicted to finding the sweet thing, you know out of the ten new emails or phone messages there might be one that is really good news or a new sale and the like – something that will give us a feeling of pleasure.
Psychologists call it Variable Ratio Scheduling, as we never know when we’ll get rewarded, it’s unpredictable which is why it becomes addictive. It could be likened to say playing a poker machine and we keep checking to see if we have won. The thing is by distracting ourselves constantly, it actually delays our results and besides that – the message will still be there when you check it later.
Technology is here for our convenience, however if it is controlling you or causing you social, productive and financial hardships due to inappropriate use, or if it is causing you anxiety if you cannot use it, then you may have an addiction that needs some attention.