Creative Thinking

How can individual or group creativity and collaboration be enhanced by hybrid working?

by Creative & Divergent Thinking

Our individualistic personalities and characters means we have our very own best-practice in being productive and creative.

In his short article titled ‘no, you don’t have to meet in person‘, Adam Grant showcases that even though Zoom session can limit group creativity and divergent thinking, in-person creativity sessions can reduce the number of great ideas that may otherwise come from time spent thinking alone. 

My favourite quote from the article is: ‘The best of both worlds is intermittent collaboration: alternating between individual idea generation and group idea evaluation. The most creative virtual teams aren’t in touch every hour or even every day. They divide and conquer on deep work and then come together for periods of burstiness, with messages flying back and forth’.

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UK Lockdown Lessons

Lessons from Lockdown – Automatic Behaviour

by Automatic Behaviour
Automating day-to-day behaviour

By creating subconscious habits (i.e. automated behaviour), we are able to conserve cognitive energy which allows us to focus on more important, strategic tasks. Because every time we change our routines and habits, we must rethink basic processes. This is what happened when we went into the first lockdown, we had to completely readjust our working behaviour. 

This meant that on every single task, we had to rethink how to accomplish what we needed to get the job done. Part of this was considering what knowledge and privacy security issues were involved, how we kept teams functioning, how we communicated with each other, how to use new apps and learn new skillsets, etc. 

All these new learnings required brain capacity to master basic behaviour in this new environment. A large part of our brain capacity was therefore used up in basic functioning – until the basic behaviours became familiar and automatic. This left less brain capacity to allocate to more strategic or productive tasks. 

However, since the first lockdown in March 2020, we’ve gone from the ‘old normal’ to remote work, then back to work, to remote work and now to hybrid work. During this time and because of these constantly shifting work situations, we’ve learnt to become more digitally flexible, and more confident to take on a number of remote and hybrid scenarios in order to get the job done, wherever that geographically may be.

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Tech and our brains

Our brains are malleable and technology is changing them

by Digital Brain

Why is regular engagement with technology important to consider when it comes to mental and physical wellbeing?

From a physical and cognitive perspective, a term that has fairly recently found its way into the public domain is ‘neuro-plasticity’.

When it comes to human-computer psychology, this is an important factor that really needs greater levels of understanding, research and publicity.

Previously, developmental psychologists stated that at a certain age (around the late teen/early 20’s) our brain has completed its development. They believed that the structure of our brain throughout the remainder of our lives was fixed, and we couldn’t do much about it after that.

But this now has been disproven. Our brains continue to develop and change as we go about life, as we meet people, as we do things and as we learn things.

The information that comes in through our 5 senses activates specific neurons associated with those senses. The bonds between these neurons, and those they are connected to, are strengthened as they are activated.

The more we do something, the stronger and more connected those neurons become. These strong neural bonds allow information to flow quicker and more easily through the brain.

Those neurons that are not continuously used become weaker and information flow becomes a little sludgier. 

This is why developing a new skill or habit is hard work and requires additional willpower and determination. It is also why practising something embeds familiarity and makes a task easier.

It is really the basis of what we call ‘muscle memory’ when we are developing a new skill and expertise. It is also why breaking a bad habit is so difficult to do.

Additionally, the effort of honing a desired skill and doing something well releases mini dopamine hits into our system. Dopamine in our bodies is our natural happy drug, but in doses that give us lower-level, longer-lasting contentment, rather than the mass hits of synthetic ecstasy drugs that give us short-term thrills.

This is relevant, from a technology use point of view, in that technology (including social media and gaming) are specifically designed to keep us hooked.

The flashing and moving images and copy changes distract our eyes, engage our attention and release mini-hits of dopamine. The neural development that happens while using those apps becomes directly associated with the mini-dopamine hits, which we start relying on when we are feeling a little low – and this is what keeps us hooked.

Some us spend substantial amounts of time on our phones: switching regularly between emails, social media or checking messages alongside attempting to get work done. We often open up notifications as soon as they pop up (which most of us do within 30 sec’s of receiving them – no matter the source of the notification). We read that story just in, we check what the score is on the game running in the corner of the screen, we listen to that song now playing on Alexa, we quickly reply to mum’s text, we get back to that email, we message that friend about drinks this evening, we write another paragraph of the presentation, we reply to another email …

What you are doing in this process, is training your brain to reduce the ability to focus and concentrate on harder, more difficult tasks that result in productive work. You are also training your brain, through the mini-dopamine hits you get with each bits of activity.

Hard thinking (deep) work takes mental effort and energy. It’s so much easier, and emotionally more pleasing, to flick between tasks and shower our brain with another quick dopamine hit. In the process, our brains start getting into a habit of being distracted. We crave constant stimulation and the mini-dopamine rush that comes from social connection and information hits.

The overall message here is that although we generally attribute technology addiction and dependence on gamers and teens on social media, a number of us have our own level of reliance on technology. It may not be in the ‘addiction or disorder’ realm, but we do need to be aware of how we use technology and what it is doing for and to us.

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Capturing Our Attention

The Capturing of our Attention

by Attention

An article by Johann Hari in The Guardian is a review of the research he has done while interviewing a number of experts in the field of attention. Within the article he states that ‘there is strong evidence that stress and exhaustion ruin your attention’ and ‘about 35% of workers feel they can never switch off their phones because their boss might email them at any time of day or night’.

He suggests that a ‘digital detox’ doesn’t actually work for the medium or longer-term (which I agree with). He does, however, suggest two better solutions could be a) implementing ‘the right to disconnect’ allowing workers to determine what is reasonable in after-hours work-based connectivity and b) forcing tech companies to change how they operate and make a profit. 

Although I am sure he highlights a number of other insights and solutions within his book (released later this week: 6th January 2022) that covers the research he’s done on attention, but I would suggest that we need to take a more active, personal role in managing our own attention, rather than subcontracting the responsibility to the government and tech companies. 

This is especially important for those who use technology to fulfil their job function. We need to recognise that the technology we use is changing how we think and how we process information. Technology is capturing our attention and reducing our ability to focus. Both personal and work-based notifications can distract us. Another article from December 2020, highlights research on the impact of notifications points out that, the cognitive effort required to ignore a notification can be mentally draining – wondering what they want and thinking about it until replying.

Technology is capturing our attention and reducing our ability to focus. Both personal and work-based notifications can distract us. In another article from December 2020, highlighting research on the impact of notifications, points out that the cognitive effort required to ignore a notification can be mentally draining. If you receive a notification and can’t reply for a while, you end up wondering what your friend has to say and think about it until replying.

In his book ‘The Shallows’, Nicolas Carr showcases how dependent we have voluntarily become on technology and how technology is constantly rewiring our (neuroplastic) brains. 

Digital detoxes provide a temporary salve to our technology habits. Long-term tech habits, however, require conscientious, continuous steps being taken every day to make a more permanent change to how we engage with technology. 

With technology becoming such a key part of our daily living, our attention is being eroded by the use of the same technology that enables us to be more ‘in-tune’ with others and the world around us.  We need to become more strategic and tactical in what we allow our attention to be focussed on. 

Our brains have limited ability to process the bombardment of incoming stimuli from all of our senses. This is because, the attention that we give to specific stimuli is associated with a process of ‘selection’ i.e. what we pay attention to determines how we allocate our cognitive resources.

This is efficiently demonstrated in a study by an experiment involving ‘The Monkey Business Illusion’. If you haven’t seen this before, it may surprise you how little you notice the first time you watch the video.

A number of other experiments have also been conducted, such as that of Simons and Levin (1998) on change blindness. The experiment showed how few people truly take note of the appearance of a stranger asking them directions and, therefore, how much we truly pay attention to.

A few theories help us to understand more about how our attention works:

  1. Limited Capacity Theory: suggests that the amount of cognitive processing resources allocated to attention is finite.
  2. Multiple Resource Theory: suggests different pools of cognitive resources process different types of incoming stimuli e.g. one pool allocated to sound, another to sight and another to touch.
  3. Attentional Spotlight Theory: is where our cognitive effort is focussed on what our eyes (or our ears) are registering. This can either be concentrated on a small area or lightly spread over a larger area. This theory suggests we can control what we are paying attention to.

Our attention can shift, depending on its meaningfulness to us. Think of those times when we are in the middle of a conversation and we hear our name in another conversation. Our attention shifts dramatically to hear what is being said in the other conversation to the point that we are no longer listening to the person talking to us. 

We do need to recognise that the technology we use is changing how we think, our attention capacity and what we focus on. This directly impacts our levels of productivity and effectiveness within the workplace. Our workplace norms, technological business models and societal norms encourage us to spend as much time as possible in front of a screen. It is up to us as individuals to take back control of our technology use. 

Start with small changes. 

  • Turn off all as many notifications as you are able to – even starting with turning off the notifications from one app every day 
  • Take scheduled tech breaks each day and use the time to do something else completely different – pick up a book, go for a walk, head out into the garden, start a new (non-tech) hobby. Start with short chunks of time and make them longer as you get use to time away from screens
  • Aim to call or meet up with one person a week rather than send them a message 
  • Don’t put your phone on the table when meeting up with someone – put it in your bag if you have one with you
  • Don’t look at your phone during mealtimes – use that time to talk to someone else or focus on the food you are eating
  • Try leaving your phone in a room where you don’t sleep at night – try keeping a notepad by your bed and start writing down things you are grateful for or a ‘to do’ list each evening &/or morning.

Creating good tech habits is like creating good eating or exercise habits. It takes energy, determination, and persistence. There is no ‘silver bullet’ to this and like asking the food industry to stem the tide of obesity, trying to get the tech industry to reduce our reliance on tech is probably not the solution we would hope it would be.

Wendy Suzuki, a neuroscientist who studies the effects of exercise on our brain, has shown that long-term exercise can help us with improving our attention.

A great reason to use a scheduled ‘tech break’ for increasing the exercise you do.

Slightly outside of the realm of the topic of attention, other benefits of exercise on the brain is improved pre-frontal cortex and hippocampus functioning. 

The prefrontal cortex is the ‘work-horse’ of the brain. It is where information is held, processed and where risks are assessed and decisions are made. An interesting fact about the prefrontal cortex is that it only fully matures around 25 years old – which helps to explain why younger people are prone to making riskier life-decisions.

The hippocampus is where spatial and some longer term memory  is stored. Studies done on London Taxi drivers have shown larger than average sized hippocampus, which is due to their having to know every street in London, how to navigate there from memory. 

If you are interested, you can watch the longer version of the talk here.

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Making Time Off

Making Time Off Predictable – And Required

by AttentionProductivityResearch
Extracts and summary of the research: 'Making Time off Predictable and Required'.

Research Authors: Leslie A. Perlow and Jessica L. Porter (October 2009)

Key quotes: 

  • “Responsiveness breeds the need for more responsiveness”
  • “When people are always “on,” responsiveness becomes ingrained in the way they work, expected by clients and partners, and even institutionalized in performance metrics”
  • “Our experiments with time off resulted in more open dialogue among team members…[and] sparked new processes that enhanced the teams’ ability to work most efficiently and effectively”
  • “Compared with those not participating in the experiments, people on time-off teams reported higher job satisfaction, greater likelihood that they could imagine a long-term career at the firm, and higher satisfaction with work/life balance”
  • “Consultants and other professionals can provide the highest standards of service and still have planned, uninterrupted time off”
  • “The payoff… [is] about preserving a strong, engaged pool of talent and, ultimately, cultivating productive work processes for the long term”

Below is a summary of the article from the Harvard Business Review: 

BCG ran a number of predictable time-off experiments with their consultants on a number of projects over the course of a year. Initially, the consultants and project leaders were sceptical and feared career progression and team member retribution. Once the benefits of completely ‘switching off’ from work (and work-based technology) either one evening a week or one full day a week, the consultants noticed how refreshed they were when they recommenced their work. They also found they communicated more and created more efficiencies within their work processes. Additionally, their overall work-life balance improved. 

The researchers found that it is essential that everyone in the team take off the same ‘type of time’, to reduce perceptions of unfairness. This is also more conducive to team members protecting the time that they and their colleagues have off. 

They also found that having ‘time-off goals’ were an important part of the success of the experiment in addition to open dialogue, with regular weekly check-ins – where team members were accountable to and supportive of each other in how to improve their ability to take the required time off. These discussions shifted more towards “how work was being done [rather] than on what work was being done” and towards “priorities, expectations, and problems”, rather than just the problems they were encountering. 

Implementing a work culture or norm that encourages teams to experiment with different processes, allows previously unquestioned ways of doing things. The option of transforming processes into more efficient, effective and integrative ways of working can also increase team collaboration and learning. 

The change in work culture needs to be underpinned with support, openness and encouragement from senior levels. The measurement and rewarding of employee performance also needs adjusting to include: how well team members communicate and maintain personal commitments while delivering against project needs; and how well senior team members model having a sustainable career while respecting personal and team members personal commitments. 

Read the original article here

If you are unable to access the web page, you can read a PDF of the article here. 

Return to the main Research Page
Nir Eyal Article Image

Indistractable & Hooked – Nir Eyal

by AttentionBook Reviews

In his latest book, Nir walks through how technology is making us more and more distractable and has numerous suggestions on how we can claw back time in every area of our lives. 

Nir is also the author of Hooked, a book that has been widely read throughout the tech industry. It is an insightful read into how technology is purposefully engineered to capture your attention and keep you hooked. 

Reading through the book will help you to understand the mechanisms that are used within technology and help you to find personal strategies to unhook yourself from the technology you use. 

You can read a more extensive review of both Hooked and Indistractable in this Guardian article. If you aren’t able to access the article, you can read a PDF of the article here.

About the Author:

Nir is an author and lecturer who specialises in behavioural engineering, using behavioural science that creates habit forming products. Nir’s philosophy is that tech companies should not be regulated, but rather it is up to the individual to regulate their own behaviour around their technology use. You can read more about him at his website or follow him on Twitter.

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Media Multitasking and Attention

Are you good at simultaneously juggling different tech or apps?

by Multitasking

Actually, none of us are. Multitasking requires us to split our focussed attention between two or three different tasks. When we try to do more than one thing at a time, we are sacrificing the ability to perform, and the ability to limit errors, on each of the tasks that we are simultaneously trying to accomplish.

From a cognitive perspective, our ability to process information coming in through our senses is limited. If we are focussing on one thing at a time, our attention is fully engaged in that task. When we switch from task 1 to task 2, a few things happen.

The first is ‘attention residue’. When you finish working on a task, you are often still thinking about it for a little while. It may be a few seconds, a few minutes or a few hours. E.g. sending an email and then thinking ‘I could have phrased that differently’, ‘I wonder if they are at their desk and will be able to reply before the end of the day’. In order to perform the next task well, we need to be able to drop the attention residue from the previous task in order to be able to fully concentrate on the current task.

The second aspect is ‘resumption lag’. This is when one task is interrupted, in order to work on another task. Once the second task is completed, picking up the first task takes time. This is because the memory trace needs to be reactivated. It takes time to remember what it is we were doing, where we were and what we were still needing to accomplish. The longer it takes to pick up the second task, the more faded the memory trace is, and the longer it takes to re-establish it and resume the task.

We are most aware of these two phenomena when we are working on two cognitively demanding tasks, such as trying to sculpt a tactfully worded email while balancing month-end statements. We are least aware of them when we are doing less demanding tasks, like checking the message stream and creating a purchase order. When we multitask, we switch so quickly between different activities, and at a speed that convinces us that we are juggling both tasks simultaneously.

What impact does this have on us when we engage in media multitasking?

Switching between different media means that we are constantly switching our attention to each form of media. If you were simultaneously watching a movie, scrolling through social media and texting a friend, how much of the movie do you remember? Without scrolling back, how much of details of your conversation can you recall the next day.

Although none of these tasks requires significant cognitive power, or deep concentration, the downside of regularly engaging in this kind of media multitasking is that (like any form of practice), our brain becomes used to this constant media switching. It can become difficult to focus on doing ‘deep work’ and we tend to become easily distracted by notifications, incoming emails and movement around us.

There are a few simple things we can do to reduce the level of media multitasking we engage with and teach our brain to focus our attention on the work we do. By doing so, we become a lot more efficient and the work we do has fewer errors.  

  • Put your phone on silent and turn the screen away from you. Better yet, put in your desk draw for extended periods of time. Most people check their notifications within 30 seconds of receiving them – no matter what that notification is. Research also shows that even having your phone on your desk reduces your ability to pay attention to the task at hand (a bit of the FOMO effect).
  • Try to only have one app open at a time, or at least only the apps that you really need to get your current task completed. Having multiple apps open simultaneously can become distracting and get you thinking about other projects or work that also needs doing.
  • If possible, have discussions with your manager, team and co-workers about switching off your email and instant messaging for key periods each day. If you add a ‘I tend to answer my emails at the beginning and end of the day’ type message in your signature, this may limit others expecting an immediate reply from you at all hours of the day. Research on email reply times suggests that our quick response times are based on what we think others expect, rather than what they really expect.
  • Block out periods in your diary for focussed work time and try get away from open plan spaces that are susceptible to regular interruption from others.
  • Have discussions with your boss and team members about keeping team meetings to either mornings or afternoons, allowing a greater ability to plan in dedicated thinking and productivity time.
  • Try limiting your working hours to specific start and finish times – especially if you are working from home. Some people go for a walk around their block at the start and end of the day to replicate the commute to and from work. Although workplace mindsets tended to suggest working parents produce less work than those who are more flexible with their start and finish times, the research contradicted this by showcasing that working parents were more productive in the reduced time than both childless parents and single people. Their homebased responsibilities challenge them to ensure working hours are focussed and productive, because they have no other time to get that work done.

Focussed work takes time and practice to do well. But, it is worth the extra effort. You can get a lot more done in a shorter space of time. This allows you to have more time to do the things you enjoy – hobbies, friends, family, sport, gaming – guilt free. It also allows your brain time to reboot the energy consumed during the course of the day, an essential part of getting enough quality and quantity of sleep and to being more energised and productive the following day.

You can read more about the effects of task switching whilst using multiple media simultaneously in Chapter 6 of Lee Haddlington’s Cybercognition (which is quite academically focussed CyberPsychology book). 

Cal Newport, a professor in computer science, promotes the science and rationale behind setting aside technology in order to engage in ‘Deep Work’, that results in the more productive, focussed work that is needed to thrive in today’s business culture. 

You can also read more on Sophie Leroy’s study on attention by clicking the link ‘Why is it so hard to do my work? The challenge of attention residue when switching between work tasks‘.

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Automatic-Processing

The bonus and disruption of automatic processing during Lockdowns

by Automatic Behaviour

Pre-March 2020, we operated in a face-to-face biased workplace, with its own escalating levels of workplace expectations, pressures, work pace and stress.

Technology was being continually integrated into our daily working and home lives without us really taking stock of how it was either positively or negatively impacting us. Processes that included new technology innovation were quickly automated and became standardised.

Being innovative and future-focussed was about having or using the latest apps, social media platforms and gadgets that made us look more trendy, productive and ‘in-tune’ with our work.

We were already experiencing heightened levels of on-demand communication. We just kept going on this trajectory, because that was how work just happened. 

And then, one day, everything changed—absolutely everything. Every day presented a new challenge, a new hurdle to overcome, a new skill to learn, a new problem to juggle. 

Those first few months of Lockdown 1 were quite something, weren’t they? Having to hard-pivot (seemingly) almost daily, living in constant uncertainty and holding it together were key themes of that first Covid-Quarter. 

Then summer arrived and things started easing slightly… for a while, before rushing headlong into the late autumn lockdown. Who could keep up with the mandates, guidelines, traffic light system and tiers of winter 2020/21? Things started easing in the middle of this year, and then the next variant was upon us… 

Throughout all of this, we’ve spent 18 months working on constantly shifting sands of expectations, processes, and uncertainty. 

Pandemics and technology aside, as human beings, we rely heavily on an automated processing model for daily operation. 

This is where everyday activities are moved from a conscious level to a level of unconscious automatic functioning. 

What does this mean? Well, think about making a warm drink, driving a car, talking and writing, holding down a conversation, pulling up a work document… all these things we had to learn at some stage of our lives. We weren’t born knowing how to do them.

But, once we consciously worked on and developed the initial skillsets, the process shifted into the unconscious realm where we no longer think about actioning these simple, everyday tasks.

Just imagine what it would be like if these actions were not automated, how tiring, tedious and time-consuming basic living would be. 

Automatic processing means that we are able to release the conscious, working part of our brain to learn new skills, ruminate about events and conversations, think about someone else, and work through a tough problem… in other words, the ability to live the fulfilling and rewarding lives that we want to live. 

When our lives were massively interrupted in March 2020, those automatic processes that we relied on so much were relatively useless to us.

We suddenly had to dedicate huge portions of our working brain to figure out how to ‘do’ this working-from-home, manage our teams, virtually engage with clients, get projects done, and learn computer apps and programmes we weren’t familiar with (without physical colleagues or IT teams available to help), manage home life, help children with homeschooling, figure out how to get enough toilet paper or allocate enough time for queuing outside the supermarket, working through the nuances of the various mandates, dealing with our emotional and mental states… 

This onslaught of non-automated activity left us emotionally, mentally and physically exhausted most days. 

What we’ve all learnt through the past 18 months of remote and hybrid working, is how important routines and processes are to us as humans. Many of us have, therefore, started to re-evaluate the relationship we had with technology and how we intend to integrate it into our working and home lives in a more productive and less controlling way. 

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NeuroPlasticity

Digital Media and The Brain

by Digital Brain

A recent article published by NMSBA lays out 6 things that impact the neuroplasticity of the brain. There are positive and negative aspects to the impact of technology on our cognitive functioning. 

  1. Attention – Information learnt while multi-tasking can encourage information to be stored in the part of the brain specialising in facts and ideas rather than in long-term storage. This means the information is stored in a shallower way, therefore making it more difficult to retrieve. Regular interruptions also tend to reduce our ability to sustain our attention on the task at hand. 
  2. Memory – ‘Cognitive offloading’ is the tendency to rely on the internet to aid memory. Those who rely on Google more are less likely to form memory around the information they find. 
  3. Thought – Reading on a digital device can reduce your ability to think abstractly about what you are reading. Creativity and invention rely on the ability to deliberate and think deeply or abstractly. 
  4. Empathy – Being more distracted reduces your ability to be empathetic. Writing by hand may help create memory and thoughts, in a way that typing cannot. This can help us stop and think about others, and help us create deeper connections with others. 
  5. Meta-Awareness – Being constantly distracted by new information and notifications can reduce the brain’s ability to distinguish between what is important and what needs focus, potentially tricking us into thinking that something new is more important than what we are currently working on. 
  6. Attitude – Screentime can increase depression, anxiety and aggression, and can contribute towards some losing touch with reality.

Each of these areas is still being investigated by CyberPsychologists and others involved in investigating the interaction between humans and technology. 

As the workings of the brain are quite a specialist field, this will be an ongoing revelation about how new technology will impact how we think and behave.

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Deep Work Article Header

Deep Work – Cal Newport

by AttentionBook Reviews

Cal Newport’s main hypothesis in this book is that ‘the ability to perform deep work is becoming increasingly rare at exactly the same time it is becoming increasingly valuable in our economy. As a consequence, the few who cultivate this skill, and then make it the core of their working life, will thrive.’

In this book, Cal dives into the research around how our use of digital media is reducing our ability to concentrate and focus on important work. He provides the evidence around how digital technology is changing how we think, but also ways to shift ourselves back to a place where we rekindle our ability to think and work ‘deeply’. 

About the Cal Newport:

Cal Newport is an associate professor of computer science at Georgetown University, USA. He has published a number of non-fiction books and conducts a lot of research on the interaction of humans and technology. 

You can find out more about him on his website.

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