Tyranny of Email

A friend recently told me about his struggles at work, in a re-opened office. He was putting in long hours, but he perceived a pervasive irony: “It seems nearly impossible to get work done while in the office.” He was convinced that the solution was to increase his hours. Only by staying later, after his coworkers had gone home, could he finally accomplish anything. Most of us will recognize this story. The contemporary office can be a web of disorienting, and constant, distractions.

In his newest book, A World Without Email: Reimagining Work in an Age of Communication Overload, Georgetown University computer scientist Cal Newport takes up the crisis of contemporary work. In Newport’s description, the “hyperactive hive mind”—which he defines as “a workflow centered around ongoing conversation fueled by unstructured and unscheduled messages delivered through digital communication tools like email and instant messenger services”—characterizes our approach to work. Our workdays, he argues, are defined by the absence of structure: while working, we are bombarded by a continuous flow of unstructured and random modes of communication to which we must regularly attend.

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