A closely related concern involves "context-switching." When people's jobs require frequent juggling of multiple tasks, there is a significant loss of productivity do to the cognitive costs of interrupted attention.
Leaders in the Agile movement in software development have frequently written about this phenomenon. Whenever we have to switch between activities requiring substantial attention, we also have to devote cognitive resources to applying a different set of memories and other cognitive resources to the new task. The cumulative cost of this context switching is substantial. See https://theagilecouch.com/2021/05/25/the-real-costs-of-context-switching/.
Today, most jobs involve a substantial amount of "knowledge work," which require much more attention than repetitive manual labor tasks. At the same time, these same jobs require more and more frequent context switching. The attendant cost in productivity is rarely accommodated or tolerated by management, which, of course, leads to increased frustration, stress, and anxiety. It's no wonder there's a growing mental health problem in the workplace.
Oh yes. And context switching is also a familiar work-life balance problem. So I suppose even manual workers may be burdened with it (which may increase risks of accidents). It reminds me of the series Severance, where an employee agrees to a "severance" program in which his non-work memories are separated from his work memories...
So many great points in this piece, thank you. We are not "wired" to respond well to current human technology and work, and we are at a crisis point. I am fortunate to work with fragile elders playing and singing music. I do group work, but the most important work is what I call "private concerts" with residents in a nursing home. Music and conversation geared directly to each person, to his or her needs. I sometimes even write songs with them. Music is immensely powerful and healing, as so much research in recent years suggests. Coupled with pure and loving ATTENTION for and to people who feel useless and neglected, the effect is so powerful. I say I am fortunate, because the nurses and aides I work around do not have the luxury of giving this kind of focused attention, with so many others to care for and constant health crises to deal with.
Vipassana meditation practice is all about cultivating attention, beginning with one's own body. More of this kind of training to children and for all of us would also be of great benefit to improving our relationship with work and our lives in general.
Great post!
A closely related concern involves "context-switching." When people's jobs require frequent juggling of multiple tasks, there is a significant loss of productivity do to the cognitive costs of interrupted attention.
Leaders in the Agile movement in software development have frequently written about this phenomenon. Whenever we have to switch between activities requiring substantial attention, we also have to devote cognitive resources to applying a different set of memories and other cognitive resources to the new task. The cumulative cost of this context switching is substantial. See https://theagilecouch.com/2021/05/25/the-real-costs-of-context-switching/.
Today, most jobs involve a substantial amount of "knowledge work," which require much more attention than repetitive manual labor tasks. At the same time, these same jobs require more and more frequent context switching. The attendant cost in productivity is rarely accommodated or tolerated by management, which, of course, leads to increased frustration, stress, and anxiety. It's no wonder there's a growing mental health problem in the workplace.
Oh yes. And context switching is also a familiar work-life balance problem. So I suppose even manual workers may be burdened with it (which may increase risks of accidents). It reminds me of the series Severance, where an employee agrees to a "severance" program in which his non-work memories are separated from his work memories...
So many great points in this piece, thank you. We are not "wired" to respond well to current human technology and work, and we are at a crisis point. I am fortunate to work with fragile elders playing and singing music. I do group work, but the most important work is what I call "private concerts" with residents in a nursing home. Music and conversation geared directly to each person, to his or her needs. I sometimes even write songs with them. Music is immensely powerful and healing, as so much research in recent years suggests. Coupled with pure and loving ATTENTION for and to people who feel useless and neglected, the effect is so powerful. I say I am fortunate, because the nurses and aides I work around do not have the luxury of giving this kind of focused attention, with so many others to care for and constant health crises to deal with.
Vipassana meditation practice is all about cultivating attention, beginning with one's own body. More of this kind of training to children and for all of us would also be of great benefit to improving our relationship with work and our lives in general.
You are so right about the power of music! ❤️