Every morning, most of us wake up to the sound of an alarm.
The radio is playing. We turn on the television. We log onto
the Internet, check our E-mail, answer the phone. We text
message a friend, join an IM conversation, often all before
8am. And this is just the warm up for a typical day in 2007.
Fifty years ago, in the days before media and multi-tasking,
this would have been the topic of a futuristic movie but
today it is our reality. We’re training our brains
to respond to multiple forms of media at the same time, to
do more than one activity at a time and to squeeze more and
more into every day. To use a technological metaphor, it’s
as though we are upgrading our processors to improve productivity
and optimize end-user satisfaction, the end users being our
bosses, family, friends and ourselves.
This trend is leading some to say that the typical day has
now extended beyond 24 hours. This may seem absurd at first
because we can never have more than 24 hours of chronological
time in a day. However, studies are now suggesting that we
can have many more hours of functional time, perhaps up to
43
hours per day.
In 2006, Yahoo Inc and OMD released a research report entitled ‘It's
a Family Affair: the Media Evolution of Global Families in
a Digital Age’, which demonstrated the power of multi-tasking
in expanding the typical day's activities. The report combined
results from polling more than 4,500 online families in 16
countries with in-home interviews and scrapbooks tracking
media and technology usage.
Here are some interesting findings from the study.
Another study conducted by Veronis Suhler Stevenson quantified
time spent with media by using ratings data, survey research
and consumer purchase data. They reported that between
2000 and 2006, US consumers increased their total media
time by 5%, from 3,333 hours in 2000 to 3,499 in 2006.
Put more simply, that is an average of 9.6 hours a day
of media exposure, up from 9.1 hours in 2000
Where is this leading?
There is no doubt that we benefit from technological
improvements which enable us to access information and
communicate with people. Who doesn’t love being able
to “google” topics and find the information
they need quickly with the click of a mouse or the ease
with which they can research information at work using
the Web and online databases. Most of us also value the
various forms of communication like mobile phones, e-mail
and instant messaging that enable us to keep in touch with
our families and a wide social and professional network
around the world.
But despite the benefits, we might be wise
to consider whether using technology to gain more and more
from our days is in our best interests. Technology creates
options for us but with options come expectations. Expectations
that we know more, be more productive and more available.
A classic example of this is the “Blackberry Bind”.
Blackberries give us the option of accessing e-mails and
the Web anywhere and anytime. But with this freedom comes
an expectation that we will be available to our employers
long after we’ve left work for the day.
The apparent association between developments
in technology and our increasingly busy schedules might
lead some to question whether we control technology or
if it controls us. Joe Uva, the President and CEO of OMD
Worldwide, offers a positive interpretation, saying "It's
clear that within the 43-hour day, families are making
concerted efforts to spend time together and to live out
a new family value that says we control technology.'"
Wenda Harris Millard, Yahoo's Chief Sales
Officer, affirms this saying "The [OMD/Yahoo] study
shows that regardless of their size or composition, today's
families value time-honored traditions like dining together,
and they are using technology to help manage busy, family-centered
lives. Technology is essential to family life, not because
people love gadgets, but because it helps them do what
they want to do,"
It would seem that as long as the 43
hour day is an option rather than an expectation and
that we control the way we allow technology to influence
our lives, the variety of media and communication forms
now available can provide us with valuable ways of balancing
our work and personal lives as well as building and sustaining
relationships.
