Not long ago, information overload was the bane of office life - a deluge of data inundating our workstations and destroying our collective productivity. Then we discovered that so much information on the internet was rubbish and that we could safely ignore any e-mail addressed to more than three people. Now, though, there is a new workplace affliction: interruption overload.
People used to be able to interrupt you at work only by phoning or walking into your office. Now they can do so by e-mail, instant messaging, mobile phones (with voice calls and text messages) and BlackBerries or personal digital assistants.
"The profusion of communications channels is definitely harmful for productivity, because it leads to more interruptions," says Jakob Nielsen, an expert on information technology usability. "For people doing knowledge work - the most highly paid employees - every time you are interrupted it takes 5-15 minutes to fully recapture your train of thought and get back to being completely immersed in your main task."
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