It’s 10 a.m. on a Tuesday. You are trying to complete a report for your boss, but every couple of minutes, your computer is alerting you to the fact you have a new email. And your phone, which is sitting right next to you, is lighting up every few seconds to inform you that the very cute photo of your toddler has just gotten another “Like.”
A few minutes later, your phone starts vibrating with an incoming call. It’s a blocked number so you don’t pick up. In spite of the deluge of interruptions, you have managed to stay strong and not give in. You keep writing your report.
Despite the willpower you demonstrated in not giving in to the temptation of constant notifications, you would have done as good a job on the report if you had missed a night’s sleep. And you would have done marginally better on the report than if you had been smoking marijuana at your desk while writing.
Research from the University of London has shown that when we are bombarded with distractions and notifications, such as incoming emails and calls, we lose on average 10 IQ points. And this is if we don’t give in to them and keep on working.
While 10 IQ points might not seem like a huge deal, it’s the equivalent of not having slept the night before, and twice as much as you would lose from smoking some pot. Essentially, the distractions (even “unopened”) reduce our mental sharpness. In addition, the energy exerted in avoiding checking the distractions tires out our willpower muscle.
If…
