If you get a lot of email a href=”that excessive day-to- day use of technology” target=”_blank”>this story from the San Francisco Chronicle may not surprise you.
A study commissioned by Hewlett-Packard has found that excessive day-to- day use of technology — whether it’s sending e-mails or using mobile phones — can be more distracting and harmful to the IQ than smoking marijuana.
The research conducted for HP by scientists from the Institute of Psychiatry at the University of London warns of the “abuse of always-on technology” in which “workers are literally addicted to checking e-mail and text messages during meetings, in the evening and at weekends.”
The study called this condition info-mania
The study said “an average worker’s functioning IQ falls 10 points when distracted by ringing telephones and incoming e-mails … more than double the four-point drop seen following studies on the impact of smoking marijuana.”
Is that a 10 point drop per email? If that’s the case I think I hit negative numbers some time ago.
