From multitasker to non productive: How technology makes you useless

Low productivity is not the result of poor organization. Today, we have a huge amount of tools and systems that help us measure, manage and maximize our performance. The technological battlefield is full of thousands of applications and software that aim to improve our day. Some technology websites like Zapier mention up to 25 apps to improve our personal productivity and manage time well when a person only needs to use between four and five applications a day. A study conducted by McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) on the use of technology for productivity, explains people spend 61% of. their time to manage work tasks, as supposed to performing the tasks. That is, more than half of a day is spent organizing or evaluating work situations through different tools and apps and that is a real setback. Many apps give you graphics to show you that you have not been productive, which can generate even more demotivation. Excess of useless apps Let’s face it, how many apps do we have on our desktop that we do not use for absolutely anything? Research carried out by one of the pioneering companies in inbound marketing, Hubspot, analyzed precisely the risk of the use of technology at work and ruled that, the more technology you use, the less efficient you are. They discovered that using too many productivity tools and applications was counterproductive and ineffective given the redundancy of many of them. The survey emphasizes the fact that we have many apps that are repeated or very similar for similar purposes and that, even so, we write in pencil and paper. We also face the reality that most of the time we spend time looking at the mobile too often. Having acquired that habit turns the apps themselves into excuses to see how your performance is, for example, but makes you deviate unconsciously to other applications, says psychologist Lara Garcia. The psychology of productivity The fundamental pillar to be productive lies in minimizing interruptions as much as possible. Last year, the American Psychological Association (APA) collected information on the importance of increasing attention capacity in a single task and of reducing digital distractions completely to be more productive. It is very easy to lose an hour browsing in search of the perfect app while we tap between all the ones there are. The World Health Organization people in many countries experience compulsive behaviors linked to technology. Although technology may be an important tool in being productive, the most important thing is personal motivation. The essential thing is to know what we learn with our work, how it enriches us and how we can contribute value for ourselves and for other people. When we do not have a clear objective or priorities, the distraction is even greater and, consequently, we are less productive. “In this case, any interruption is a distraction that takes us away from a task that we do not have planned, so it also influences knowing how to properly use our time. Are social networks the enemy? The psychology of work has broadly addressed the issue, and some experts have already revised different formulas to improve labor productivity. They highlight an app, called Freedom for firefox, to block social networks and the internet for a period of time and total mobile restriction during a specific task. There are numerous investigations, such as the one published in the Journal of Organizational and End User Computing, which speaks of the use of technology and social networks in the workplace, where they ensure that individuals, thanks to these tools, become more sociable at work, although its productivity decreases. A very broad and complex debate is open since technology is also necessary and essential in sectors such as communication, community managers, digital marketing. With some exceptions, the outlook is somewhat discouraging. A final report by the Adecco Group on workplace presenteeism estimated that 90% of companies detect the use of social networks during working hours, a fact that gives us an idea of the risk posed by these apps in terms of productivity. It must be said that technology is only a method to achieve objectives and that it should never be an end in itself. Tools such as mail, mobile, and WhatsApp, among others, should be limited and used in our favor, using these apps at a set and specific hours, but nothing more. Read the rest below at the source link