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The messages, more and more of them, piled up. And he worked strenuously to keep up with them anyway. As if Inbox Zero would eventually become a permanent condition, as if he could get it over with once and for all.
Instead, what he got was instant messaging, virtually working in an office where anyone at any time could demand the attention of everyone else. The number of paper letters had already dropped off to nothing. Then email threatened to go the same route.
To the extravert, capable of putting it aside if necessary, the stream added a welcome energy, a buzz of business, like a tapestry of conversation and opportunities for involvement. To the introvert, it was the unceasing interruption, the grit in the gears of the day.
The solution should be obvious. Timebox it. Only look at specific times of the day, and close the browser tab at other times.
He would try that. What did he have to lose? Maybe his job?
He felt he knew the others already through of him as standoffish. (They actually didn't notice, or not much.)
He worried that he, too, had become addicted to the service of instant answers, and indeed had benefited from them as much as he suffered. Could he know without asking?
Instead, what he got was instant messaging, virtually working in an office where anyone at any time could demand the attention of everyone else. The number of paper letters had already dropped off to nothing. Then email threatened to go the same route.
To the extravert, capable of putting it aside if necessary, the stream added a welcome energy, a buzz of business, like a tapestry of conversation and opportunities for involvement. To the introvert, it was the unceasing interruption, the grit in the gears of the day.
The solution should be obvious. Timebox it. Only look at specific times of the day, and close the browser tab at other times.
He would try that. What did he have to lose? Maybe his job?
He felt he knew the others already through of him as standoffish. (They actually didn't notice, or not much.)
He worried that he, too, had become addicted to the service of instant answers, and indeed had benefited from them as much as he suffered. Could he know without asking?
