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\n Editor\u2019s Note: <\/b>Sign up for CNN\u2019s Stress, But Less newsletter. <\/em>Our six-part mindfulness guide will inform and inspire you to reduce stress while learning how to harness it<\/em><\/a>.<\/em>\n<\/p>\n \n \n I\u2019ve been working steadily for hours but feel as if I haven\u2019t even started. My attention is being pulled from my assigned task \u2014 writing this story \u2014 by a myriad of what I believe are necessary work interruptions. (OK, a couple were from my cat, who also firmly believes in their necessity.)\n <\/p>\n \n My kids and I call days like this \u201csquirrel days\u201d in honor of Dug<\/a>, the talking dog in (squirrel !!) the 2009 Pixar movie \u201cUp<\/a>,\u201d who (squirrel !!) was constantly distracted by well, just about (squirrel !!) \u2026\n <\/p>\n \n Unfortunately, all too many of us are having \u201csquirrel\u201d days, according to Dr. Gloria Mark, a professor of informatics at the University of California, Irvine, who studies how digital media affects our lives. In her book \u201cAttention Span<\/a>: A Groundbreaking Way to Restore Balance, Happiness and Productivity,\u201d Mark explains how decades of research have tracked the decline of the ability to focus.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cIn 2004, we measured the average attention on a screen to be 2\u00bd minutes,\u201d Mark said. \u201cSome years later, we found attention spans to be about 75 seconds. Now we find people can only pay attention to one screen for an average of 47 seconds.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Not only do people concentrate for less than a minute on any one screen, Mark said, but when attention is diverted from an active work project, they take about 25 minutes to refocus on that task. (Wait, what??)\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cIn fact, our research shows it takes 25 minutes, 26 seconds, before we go back to the original working sphere or project,\u201d Mark said.\n <\/p>\n \n How can that be? \u201cIf we look at work in terms of switching projects, as opposed to the micro view of switching screens, we find people spend about 10\u00bd minutes in any work project before being interrupted \u2014 internally or by someone else \u2014 and then switch to another work project,\u201d Mark said.\n <\/p>\n \n Yes, but then we go back to the original work, right? Wrong, Mark said. Instead, when we are interrupted on project two, we switch yet again to a different task \u2014 call it project three. Unbelievably, her research has shown we are also interrupted on project three and move on to project four.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cAnd then you go back and pick up the original interrupted project,\u201d Mark said. \u201cBut it\u2019s not like you\u2019re interrupted and you do nothing. For over 25 minutes, you\u2019re actually working on other things.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n (At least I can tell my boss that when I miss my deadline.)\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cHowever, there\u2019s also a switch cost,\u201d Mark added. \u201cA switch cost is the time it takes you to reorient back to your work: \u2018Where was I? What was I thinking of?\u2019 That additional effort can also lead to errors and stress.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Why is all of this a problem? After all, it\u2019s called multitasking, thought by many to be a highly prized skill for coping with the demands of the information age.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWith the exception of a few rare individuals, there is no such thing as multitasking,\u201d Mark said. \u201cUnless one of the tasks is automatic, like chewing gum or walking, you cannot do two effortful things at the same time.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n For example, she said, you can\u2019t read email and be in a video meeting. When you focus on one thing, you lose the other. \u201cYou\u2019re actually switching your attention very quickly between the two,\u201d Mark said. \u201cAnd when you switch your attention fast, it\u2019s correlated with stress.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Blood pressure rises. Heart rate speeds up. Psychological measures of stress also show negative outcomes, she said, such as more fatigue and mistakes and less productivity: \u201cThe more people multitask, the more errors they make.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Who did this to us? We did, of course, with the help of tech culprits such as social media<\/a>, tablets and television. But Mark blames email the most.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cTo me, email is probably the worst because it\u2019s become a symbol of work,\u201d she said, adding that her research has found a direct correlation between email and more stress.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWe cut off email for some workers in an organization for one workweek,\u201d she said. \u201cUsing heart rate monitors, we found that they became significantly less stressed and were able to focus significantly longer.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n (I find myself pausing to look up flights to Bora Bora. Oh, right. They have email there, too.)\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThere\u2019s no way that a person can just completely cut off from technology and work in today\u2019s world,\u201d Mark said. \u201cSo let\u2019s learn how to live with it in a way that maintains our positive well-being.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Regaining your focus requires you to be mindful of how you are using technology, Mark said, a daunting task if you consider the average American spends at least 10 hours a day on screens<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n \n Paradoxically, you can use technology to help, she said. Schedule rote work for the first part of the day when you\u2019re not fully alert, then use technology to block distractions when you\u2019re at your mental best. At night, offload tasks from your brain by writing them down and then put the list away.\n <\/p>\n \n Distracted by social media sites? Hide them, Mark said: \u201cTake the icons off your desktop and bury the apps on your phone inside folders, where it takes an extra effort to find them. Leave your phone in another room or put it in a drawer and lock it.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n It\u2019s also important to learn when to take a break. \u201cIf you have to read something more than once or if the words are just not registering, it\u2019s time to stop and replenish,\u201d she said.\n <\/p>\n \n The best break is a walk in nature<\/a>: \u201cJust a 20-minute walk in nature can help significantly relax people,\u201d Mark said. \u201cAnd we found it can help people produce significantly more ideas \u2014 it\u2019s called divergent thinking<\/a>.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Too cold to walk outside? Do something engaging that takes no mental effort.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cI have a friend who is an MIT professor, and his favorite activity is matching socks,\u201d Mark said. \u201cAnother friend likes to iron. Ideas can incubate and then we come back to the hard work, and we see it with fresh eyes.\u201d\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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