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Emails Can Lower Your Smarts

EMAILS 'HURT IQ MORE THAN POT'

Workers distracted by phone calls, e-mails and text messages suffer a greater
loss of IQ than a person smoking marijuana, a British study shows.
Ref. https://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/04/22...t.iq/index.html

Smarts Lower Emails

I tend to disagree with the opinions stated in the article. In my opinion, being able to handle phone calls, emails and other forms of communication throughout the day keeps a person on their toes, and is a good indicator of how organized this person can be. I had to train a new person a couple of months ago and I remember her complaining about the second line on her phone ringing when she was already on a phone call on the first line. I can remember my coworker and I looking at each other with blank stares. Being able to multi-task may be a drain on people physically, but it also stimulates the mind as well, in my opinion. Maybe I have been subjected to the corporate world for too long, but this is how I feel about this subject.

Emails Can Lower Your Smarts Gaming Video & Issues Computer

I'm not sure I understand this article, it claims that a persons IQ drops by ten points simply by checking your e-mail throughout the day. Correct me if I'm wrong but I thought IQ was a measurement of how smart someone was over all. I could understand a temporary drop in effectiveness as your brain tries to deal with both an email and an external issue, but I don't understand how this can make you inherently dumber. As an interesting side note if you look at the advertisements off to the side you will see a notice to sign up for "email alerts." If you buy their logic then they would only be increasing your email load and making you dumber
-Unferth

Smarts Lower Emails

I see it as a drop in productivity, but not IQ, as the article actually states from the beginning:

That's not the same thing as IQ dropping, in my opinion.

However, I do feel that checking personal email throughout the day -- on company time -- is not a good thing to be doing. I personally don't have time for it, and it's against company policy as well, so I usually do not access the internet for personal reasons while on the clock. I have occasionally done so, and felt really guilty! I can't imagine even having the time to do it several times throughout the work day, as was stated in the article. Can people really be that obsessed with it?

Roz