Attention and Distractions in Remote Working
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Abstract
Courtesy of functional human cognition and user interface features in modern computer systems, users in remote environments experience increased distractions and decreased attention during their practices and activities. Human cognition systems subject users to minimize attention in both workplace and remote environments. Human cognition systems limit the user to concentrate fully on his activities while the user interface enables individuals to interact through their computers. Many modern computers use a graphical User Interface (GUI), which is easier to use by modern-day users. The contemporary user interface makes it possible for the user to open many applications, websites, and tabs simultaneously. For instance, a user can work, browse, and listen to music at the same time. Browsing and listening to music are underlying distractors to the user, whereby in remote settings, users are more likely to yield to these distractions than in work environments. In the digital age, distractions from social media and other sites happen freely in the information workplace. Also, there are several disadvantages to associates with remote working. Several studies have observed relationship issues between the remote workers and those working from the office. The colleagues working from the office assume that they work more than their home-based partners. Therefore, the workplace office colleagues feel that the amount of email they receive daily increases because of inquiries from the telecommuters.
Attention and Distractions in Remote Working
Introduction
At the beginning of 21 st century, remote working has significantly increased, and just like the customary office setting, remote working has its distractions that minimize work productivity (Lytras, Raghavan & Damiani, 2017). Working for fixed hours in a day beginning from the industrial era where workers would be paid for the hours they worked, and any distraction during the work period led to low productivity. With the increase in the internet age, the decline in productivity had escalated as people began staying connected through social media. Nowadays, most individuals have difficulties staying focused on their work project the whole day without getting distracted (Tomasz, 2015). They get occupied by sending text messages on the phone, reading articles on the internet, checking emails, and long phone calls conversations/ digital distraction as a result of electronic devices and media that breaks the concentration from the activities being performed.
On the other hand, recent communication and information technologies focus on issuing services to clients working on activities requiring concentration. Nevertheless, people nowadays have lost the norm of focused activities, thus often interrupted. Using different devices and working on different tasks, maintaining knowledge about distant colleagues’ activity, and managing vast quantities of information results in a high cognitive load that may hinder the user’s overall productivity (Rowe, 2020). Attention has a critical role while people are working and interacting. It aids individuals act, think, and communicate in physical and virtual environments that offer individuals stimuli exceeding possibly by several orders of magnitude. When individuals are focused on their daily activities, they work productively without being distracted.
Distractions and Attention
Distractions might happen in the organizations or outside the organization settings. The managers have only focused on finding and solving the work distractors in the organization’s offices and neglected the remote workers’ distractions. Managers are not aware of distractions that lead to less productivity among their employees working from home (Rowe, 2020). In a home-based office, constant emails, text notifications, pings are some of the distractors home-based individuals experience (Tomasz, 2015). They find themselves multitasking between working and the urge to use social media, checking and replying to emails while working or even chatting. Time spent after any distraction due to a single Facebook message and a few articles from the internet can derail the mind for a long period, thus reducing productivity. Whenever someone decides to switch their attention elsewhere during the work period, some costs are associated with the act.
According to studies, many people embrace technology and devices; thus, digital distraction is gaining popularity every day. There several reasons that explain the increase in digital distractions in remote working. First, the cognitive surplus explains that individuals wish to use their free time for creative acts. Nowadays, if people are not working, they are busy sending video clips, writing blogs, and watching television. There is a possibility that people will end up utilizing cognitive surplus in their working offices instead of their free time. Secondly, digital overload is explained by where people multitask between too many screens and many tasks, losing focus, and they pay no attention to single tasks (Tomasz, 2015). Many people fear that they multitask due to the fear of; being online, missing out, and away from their smart 0phones.people are prone to distractions as they are always checking on their phones, thus easily getting distracted while working. While working, some individuals are always attached to their devices. Such wearable devices include; smart glasses, smartwatches, fitness bands, and smart clothes that make it hard for them to get separated from the technology (Matt, 2016). As people get addicted to technology, work productivity is reduced.
The employees who work from home have several disadvantages, and these disadvantages are used to identify the distractors during remote working related to limiting productivity while remote working. Some of these distractors include; Telecommuting fears whereby the individuals fear that they may not be in the same environment as that in the organization’s settings. They feel that working from home would isolate them from their colleagues who make the work exciting. According to research, remote workers have difficulty managing the house chores and the office work that needs to be finished. The remote workers need to work harder and for longer hours to enhance work productivity. They always work extra hard to perform much better than their colleagues who work in workplace offices.
Work productivity among workers, especially for remote working, maybe the most significant activity for managers to monitor. Remote working is becoming more popular, and in many cases, it is more connected with the activity of work other than the location. Many challenges occur with an increase in remote working (Lytras et al., 2017). Among the challenges is the possibility of poor productivity due to distractors created the environment of home offices. The home office environment distractor is always overwhelming. The distractors include the use of smartphones. WhatsApp app, checking the smartphone for notifications, using WhatsApp on the laptop, feeling anxious when not having a smartphone, and attracting smartphones. While working from home, since the manager is not there to monitor, people may spend more time on their smartphones consciously, thus reducing work productivity. WhatsApp application is one of the most used applications to leave people spending around two hours of their daily productive hours to reply to a message. After every thirty minutes of working, the remote workers keep checking their phones for any notifications or as soon the display light-ups. Attraction to the smartphone is the act of checking one’s phone for a long time, even without notifications. The remote workers might be tempted to use the open WhatsApp and YouTube and Facebook app available on the laptop. People use YouTube and Facebook applications when they decide to break or run in the background.
Moreover, television is a distractor. Some remote workers may watch the T.V while working while others might take a break to watch the television. The workspace at home is always cramped and cluttered, thus working as a distractor to remote working. Since meeting sare on zoom, the remote workers have to remain in the video for sometime before switching the phone. Work accountability is minimized, thus resulting in more distractions. The improvement of human cognition and user interface technologies function by increasing computers’ effectiveness and efficiency, thus reducing underlying challenges and issues faced by previous generations. In modern computers, the systems are designed to function almost like humans. Cognitive systems in contemporary computers function by integrating computer algorithms and logical statements, thus enabling humans to make complex decisions (Lytras et al., 2017). When faced with sophisticated big data issues, contemporary managers consult their human cognition systems to help them in refining their decisions
Recommendations and conclusion
To overcome digital distraction and digital overload, awareness should be spent to let people know the time maximum amount they should spend on their smartphones and address anxiousness when one doesn’t have their phone and laptop with them. People should overcome the fear of missing out as it is the main cause of anxiousness. People think that multitasking is a way to solve work problems and improve efficiency. The fact is multitasking decreases the brain’s ability to process information. Research shows poor performance from people who multitask (Tomasz, 2015). Besides, while people are working, they should turn off notifications and set time restrictions while visiting websites. As a result of digital devices, distractions change an individual’s attention from performing tasks either in the workplace or remote working. The main reason for digital distraction growth includes the cognitive surplus, digital overload, and attachment to devices. Distraction can also be caused by individuals who keep checking their phone notifications. There is a need to create awareness for digital overload, its impacts, and how it can be overcome. Moreover, a positive ecosystem should be established to ensure everyone’s contribution is relevant to minimize digital distractions in today’s world.
References
Lytras, M. D., Raghavan, V., & Damiani, E. (2017). Big data and data analytics research: From metaphors to value space for collective wisdom in human decision making and smart machines. International Journal on Semantic Web and Information Systems (IJSWIS), 13(1), 1-10.
Matt, R.M. (2016). Attached to technology and paying the price”. Nytimes.com. N.P.
Rowe, M. (2020). 13. Attention allocation in an age of distraction. Reflections on a pandemic, 19.
Tomasz, J.T. (2015). “Digital government evolution; From transformation to contextualization”. Government Information Quarterly32.3: 221-236.