Continuous Partial Attention

ubercombatwombat writes "While answering my softphone and checking my mail simultaneously I ran across the following article by Steven Levy. In it he writes about a speaker named Linda Stone and something she called "Continuous Partial Attention." I finally had a phrase for the reason I turn off wi-fi, asked people to turn off their cell phones and put away their crackberrys when I am speaking to a group. I suffer from this too. Starting today I am going to do something about it, brb."

R. Keller at Legoe Bay Wireless, LLC

[eldavojohn]

The author's e-mail address is [e-mail] (Legoe Bay Wireless, LLC) which is actually a domain for a wireless internet provider [legoebay.com] for San Juan Islands near Bellingham, Washington.

In other news, R. Keller of Legoe Bay communications was fired today after he ran through his office complex preaching the horrors of wireless devices.

His manager later commented that his "Continuous Partial Attention" campaign wasn't very good for business.

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[account_deleted]

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You know...

[suso]

I was thinking about this and

Re:Amazing!

[PFI_Optix]

Now just imagine what would happen if you never opened slashdot!

Whoa! Look guys!

[Bromskloss]

The author's e-mail address is [e-mail]

A whole Ebay just for Lego!

Re:Right...

[generic-man]

The printable version [msn.com] (pops up "Print" dialog box, which you can safely cancel out of) has no such distractions.

Meanwhile, I've noticed that many of the people (not you necessarily) who complain loudly about cluttered web pages run Firefox with dozens of extensions and have at least 5 tabs open at any given point not to mention all the ultra-important widgets that tell them exactly what the state of the universe is and do I have mail already. I prefer to keep things simple. [splasho.com]

Redundant Department of Redundancy department

[RyoShin]

So... she basically gave a name, applying mostly to geeks, for the small amount of ADD that all of us h- ooh, shiny object!

Re:too kind a description

[Cat_Byte]

Wait a minute. Sending an email from my phone to my PDA is how I get out of meetings. Don't think it's all bad.

Oops I just got an email. gotta run.

Re:Not just work...

[Cat_Byte]

I can carry on multiple conversations at the same time without negelecting any conversation.

Then answer my emails. Do you want this Viagra and penis enlargement stuff or not?

Projection to the future

[master_p]

Stardate 46539.5, USS Enterprise NCC 1701 - D...

Picard: I am going to sleep now...Data, you have the bridge (I hope nothing wakes me up this time).
Data: ok Sir.

After 20 minutes:

Data: Data to Picard.
Picard: (sleepy) ommm, what is it?
Data: we are 3 days away from our rendesvous point, sir.
Picard: good...night.
Data: yes sir.

After 5 minutes:

LaForge : Engineering to Picard.
Picard: (grrr, this can't go on for ever!) what is it this time Geordi?
LaForge: I couldn't sleep sir, so I thought to check up on the engines.
Picard: so? you wake me up for that?
LaForge: the engines are not performing as they should, sir.
Picard: ok, run a full diagnostic and notify me.
LaForge: yes sir.
Picard: in the morning, that is.
LaForge: yes sir.

After 10 minutes:

LtWorf: Security to Picard.
Picard: (outraged) what????
LtWorf: sorry sir, I did not mean to bother you.
Picard: ok, tell me.
LtWorf: I think that the teenage people on board are a little behind their physical training schedules. We need to:
Picard: damn you Worf, don't you have anything else to occupy yourself with? it is 3 am in the morning!
LtWorf: duty first, sir.
Picard: GOODNIGHT!

After 5 minutes:

Data: Data to Picard.
Picard: WHAT NOW???
Data: I have never seen such a beautiful star cluster, sir. I am actually thinking of a poem for it, right now. Do you believe that...

Picard: THIS IS THE CAPTAIN SPEAKING...ATTENTION ALL CREW MEMBERS. PLEASE SHUT DOWN ALL YOUR COMMUNICATORS AND GO SLEEP! GOD DAMN IT!!!! :-)

moral of the story: technology and instant communication with anyone, anytime in any place is not always desirable...

Re:too kind a description

[siwelwerd]

Anyone who's majored in Mathematics (I did) must spend one semester carefully defining, understanding, and proving continuity. What's described by today's "etiquette" clearly and egregiously violates the notion of continuous, rendering the euphemism "Continous Partial Attention" nothing more than an oxymoron.

Somehow I think an epsilon-delta proof in the middle of the article would trigger a discontinuity in the attention span of the reader.

Re:too kind a description

[grahamlee]

I can't tell you how disappointed I was when I found out my Dad wasn't real; it was just Santa Claus in a funny suit.

Re:Amazing!

[gEvil (beta)]

Well, had I not opened slashdot, I wouldn't have seen this story informing me of how I can be more productive. So in essence, slashdot had made me more productive!

eh sorry...

[JaJ_D]

...missed what the article was covering as I was reading /., doing a build, doing two code releases, responding to emails, answering the phone and listening to music...

What was the general gist again

:-]

Jaj

Re:too kind a description

[exi1ed0ne]

During my last outing a woman answered her cell to tell the caller she was in the middle of a movie and couldn't talk. She had to repeat it several times because the caller couldn't hear her whisper.

Just confirms my theory that technology accentuates stupid.

Re:Amazing!

[bubblesonx]

Funny how that works, isn't it? ;) If I ever really want to get any work done, I've got to hide myself away in a corner of the library, while leaving my laptop at home. Too much effort!

Come out with your hands up!

[brouski]

We have you partially surrounded!

From the Article

[emseabrown]

From the Article

...she explained to me when I called her a few days later. "Constantly being accessible makes you inaccessible." All so true. But during our conversation, some auditory clues led me to ask her one more question. "Linda," I asked, "are you taking this interview while driving your car?" She admitted that she was...

I really can't think of a better punchline than that.

Re:Amazing!

[BrettJB]

Yeah, try that excuse with your boss when he/she walks in and catchs you on /. Let me know if they buy the increased productivity BS...

Mine was so pissed the last time, he threatened to pull my network connection and strangle me with it if he ever caught me on /. aga$#%{^&}@ 8^\|^@[%!&%$.NO CARRIER

Re:Insist?

[Crunchie Frog]

What's the plural of sheep, then?

Harem ? No, that's the collective noun isn't it. I give up.