…an office with a door so I could actually get a weekly review done without interruptions. The “do not disturb” button on the phone is useless, as most of my interruptions are of the person-in-my-cube, hey-got-a-second? variety.

I have to say I couldn’t agree with you more. The whole “electronic” thing is really a bit like life… Keep it in perspective.

I’ve worked with a few “no email Friday” companies and quite frankly it becomes a bit of a pain. Pojects move from being fast-paced (M-Th) to a crawl on Friday.

I have found when I tune into email late on a Saturday (because that’s my choice) compatriates in the “no email” company are beavering away on a Saturday morning, playing catch-up. Or, in some cases, they’ve written the email on the Friday and the auto-send forwards it at just gone midnight. Exactly, what is the point of that?

I have to admit I’m a Blackberry, email, IM, Twitter etc’d up person and I view the web through Google Reader. I’ve learnt there are times it’s OK to say “No”, but there are times when you have to bankrupt yourself to the broadcast messages and focus in on the personal ones. It’s OK to do that and once you’ve done it once or twice it feels OK to draw that line occassionally - keeping it in perspective.

In reality it should all be about “work/life balance”, not “electronic disengagement”.

Keep it in perspective.

I love it, Merlin. That was probably the most rational, bullshit-free post I’ve ever read on this subject. I was nearly as “attentionally scattered” before the Internet became a big part of my life as I am now—I used to hang out in libraries a lot as a kid. To blame the problem on technology is just a lame cop-out (but one that I’ve been guilty of from time to time.) This Internet is an enabler of distraction, not a root cause of distractibility.

I felt this way about the laptop divorce post. You said it well — people need to quit blaming their technology and start correcting their use of it.

With regard to keeping the what-you’re-doing axis and the what-device axis independent, lately I’ve made some applescripts that I run when I switch tasks. My “start work” script quits NetNewsWire and just about everything else, checks new mail, runs iCal, and displays iGTD. My “quit doing what you’re doing” script quits all apps but iGTD and ejects every disk. And there is no “do fun stuff” script — NetNewsWire and Safari only get launched manually. This is mostly helpful to me because my #1 distraction at work is noticing that there are RSS items unread, and even opening NetNewsWire in order to quit it runs that risk. ymmv.

Great timing - I have been practicing this on Sundays for the past 2 months. And like the author it really hurt at first. It gave me a good appreciation for how addicted I am - I always need to ‘just check something’. Email, tweets, blog stats, work email…it never stops.

And I can personally back up the statement that it does get better. I still struggle every Sunday but have come to value the extra time to read books, play with the kids, or spend some time in prayer. I have really started to enjoy these other activities when I can focus on them. And when I reconnect Sunday night or Mnday morning I get more enjoyment online after the break.

So great article Merlin. And you are so right about the problem - it lies with us, not the technology. I’ve learned from this break on Sundays. Now during my week at work I take ‘breaks’ from IM and email and focus more on my tasks.

… not by choice, but due to a farmer driving a post through the local exchange fibre optic link. Happened here last Friday. It took 24 hours to for the phone company to repair it.

Everything was down - fixed phone lines, cell phones, sms, internet, fax, credit card facilities and all teller machines. Port Campbell is only a small place but he effect of everyone being forced offline, all together was strange. Of course all work stopped. We found ourselves talking in the tea room wondering what to do. After the obligatory jokes we started just talking and got to know our co-workers that little bit better. We all had to change our mindset, thinking of little jobs we could do and then realising they too needed to a ‘connection’. Can’t email, oh well I will just fax the information! Just walking down to the store to get the mail - call me if anything comes up! Oh thats right no cell phones.

Walking down the street was strange. Business owners were hanging by their doors looking for news. Groups of people were congregating on the street seeking updates and the latest rumours. Then there were the tourists who had arrived, no cash, no fuel and no way out of town.

A very strange day and really underscores your point of how hard it is to go truly offline.

Good points Merlin. But I need a stronger cure. In college, when internet for the hoi polloi was a decade away, I managed to do analog Google time dissolution through the card catalog at the university library.

And, of course, the place had a complete set of back issues for Punch magazine.

This seems to me to be another extension of that eternal question, “what is the meaning of life?” How we spend our days, and what we want to accomplish with our lives, varies greatly. Some people live to work. Others work to live. Still others merge the concept of “work” with the concept of “live,” creating a kind of weird synergy.

What’s the point of “unplugging” and taking a “day off” (or declaring a no-email Friday) if it’s not addressing a life goal? My life centers around having a relaxed, stress-neutral environment where I occasionally accomplish things and generally explore existence. I don’t need a day off, since every day is fairly well balanced.

I think it’s a lack of balance that’s the problem, not anything more concrete than that.

I recently started a related experiment, I have stopped using my iPod during my 30-minute walk to work. At first it drove me crazy, but now I found I actually start getting really good ideas, I actually use my hipster PDA. I also wind up saying hi to people and generally feeling a little more connected. Good stuff. The hardest part is accepting that I might not listen too all of my podcasts anymore. Who knows what kind of vital information I’m missing.

I’m writing this post first with pencil and paper, just to see if I remember how it feels. Well— I do remember, but now it registers that when I’m facing the screen, about to post or IM or email someone, my brain goes to a different place. I go to the conversation / reaction / argument place, where in fact things are slower online than they would be in the real world, where I would be talking with someone. In screen mode, I’m cheating time because I can take a bit longer to compose my thoughts. I think that is something we naturally crave, that extra moment to get it right (how we wish we had lobbed that snappy put-down, the one we think of late at night when the argument’s long over). Analog writing on the other hand has no conversational immediacy at all. It’s like I’m writing to my diary. It is, I can clearly sense, a different brain space. I guess I miss it after all. Must be something to do with general brain health. Offline: the new gingko.

An article that was recently published here in Australia deals with a similar subject. Both pieces help to remind us that we shouldn't take this digital revolution for granted, but also that we shouldn't allow our lives to be dictated by the technology we employ. Don't lose control of who the boss is in this situation.

For those who want to read it the article from The Age in Melbourne is here: http://www.theage.com.au/news/technology/can-we-live-without-digital-tec...

Hello,

There was an interesting article I read related to “no media” days in Japan. The general idea is that for one day, there’s no TV/radio/internet/computer/etc. Granted, we probably can’t do this at work, but what I’ve done is dedicate Monday and Thursday evening to “no internet nights”. I can still watch TV (but I don’t have cable), use the computer (but no internet), and listen to music (which is an ipod usually). It’s still a bit media intensive to a degree, but I find that if I don’t have the internet, much of the time I can get done with my work faster at night, and then move onto something else - like reading (which I’m a huge fan of ). Again, of course, this doesn’t work at work, and it’s necessary to change these requirements to best fit the person - but overall, I feel it’s had a very positive impact on my life so far.

Hi,

Here in the UK, the BBC are broadcasting a program called “email ruined my life” tonight (March 7) supported by a news item on the BBC news website: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7281707.stm

Excitingly, it features an interview with the man who invented email. Not sure I’d admit to that myself these days …

I read the article and thought that it started to address one of your topics in Inbox Zero and your other podcasts, that people need to be taught how to handle and use email, rather then pick it all up by osmosis.

However, it will be interesting to see how the programme allots any blame about how we have allowed email to become a cage on our time and attention, what changes to culture are needed, and what sort of advanced common sense is available for people to use. Whilst remaining free of any commercial bias of course.

They should, of course, have been interviewing you …