NOTE: I published the first version of this essay in 2006.
About a decade before the Web exploded, I started noticing how various technologies were speeding up the pace of work. One example was the fax machine, which though it had been invented even before the telephone, back in 1842, did not come into common use until the 1980s, if memory serves.
Until the fax, editors at magazines with multiple offices were accustomed to delays of at least one day, while they shipped versions of stories back and forth; sometimes we would expect a week to pass before a colleague on the East Coast, say, could react to something we'd sent from the West Coast.
But by the late '80s, working in the San Francisco bureau of California magazine, I routinely started sending and receiving marked-up manuscripts via fax to our Los Angeles headquarters minutes after the work had been done. The old waiting period was evaporating before my eyes.
At the time I considered it a speed-up, i.e., a work issue. But it didn't bother me, because I've always liked to work relatively fast as an editor.
An even more revolutionary change was the earlier arrival of word processing technology that suddenly turned every writer into his own editor. The act of writing itself underwent an instant transformation. I'd written long manuscripts for years on typewriters, then laboriously retyped them into "final" versions.
Now it was possible to start over and over and over again until I got my lede just right, then proceed through the piece. I've never been the type to work on one section one day and another the next, anyway. I always start over from the top and write down to whatever ending place I can reach in one sitting.
So, the iterative process of writing was accelerating, in line with the dictates of the software development cycle. Nowadays, some versions of word programs are too smart for their own good, or at least for my own good, as they misinterpret my intentions and pre-populate fields with auto-corrects that I do not desire at all.
The point is that word processing has altered the creative process substantially.
These are simply two early technological examples. I won't even get started on email, IM, text messaging, video blogs, or multiple other avenues by which our world continues its speedup.
Meanwhile, I have been considering the dilemma of people with extraordinary ability to focus not so much on multiple tasks but on one significant task only. This includes many coders. It is endlessly frustrating for these workers to constantly be interrupted and diverted from the task at hand.
Artists, scientists, investigative reporters, engineers -- almost anybody who tries to do special and unusual in-depth work — have certainly benefited from new technologies, but not necessarily from the work culture that is emerging as a result. How can you concentrate on any one thing when the flood of incoming lights and pings drowns out the virtual island you need to carefully construct for yourself? Or when others expect immediate attention from you when what you need is the space to be able to think?
To be clear here, I am not talking about myself. I am among the worst of all multi-taskers — it's not unusual for me to balance seven or eight discrete work tasks simultaneously, plus an equal number of personal matters. So this era is really a dream come true for the likes of me.
But this entry is not about me; it is about my polar opposite. It was provoked by one brief conversation this afternoon with a friend who is most definitely is not a multi-tasker. She doesn't excel at juggling multiple projects, nor does she need or want to indulge in instant communications most of the time. Her forte is her ability to focus and concentrate.
For our work world to collectively regain its proper balance, all of us probably need to take a breath and step away from the pace of change now and then. Take a vacation from email, and so forth. And consider how much poorer our experience of life will be if we continue to race through our lives, never stopping to even consider why we feel the need to move on so quickly in the first place.
The alternative is to reach the point where we may be continuously running only in circles, like my dear departed hamster, Spark, did every night until the one before he died. I could never figure out what he was running from.
LINKS:
Ukraine unit says Russian brigade flees Bakhmut outskirts (Reuters)
FDA panel backs over-the-counter sales of birth control pill (AP)
Just how good can China get at AI? (Economist)
Artificial Intelligence Is Not Going to Kill Us All (Slate)
AI poses existential threat and risk to health of millions, experts warn (Guardian)
China reports first arrest over fake news generated by ChatGPT (Reuters)
Salesforce is betting that its own content can bring more trust to generative AI (TechCrunch)
Mark Zuckerberg’s not-so-secret plan to join the AI race (Vox)
How people are using AI for stock market picks (Marketplace)
ChatGPT Answers the Web's Most Searched Questions (Wired)
Artificial intelligence can be found in many places. How safe is the technology? (NPR)
Informatica goes all in on generative AI with Claire GPT (VentureBeat)
Biden leaves the door open to solving the debt ceiling crisis without Congress — and it could get rid of the debate forever (Insider)
Biden says rescinding unspent COVID-19 relief funds ‘on the table’ (The Hill)
House Republicans escalate attacks on Biden family, alleging business with foreign nationals (NBC)
US inflation eases to 4.9% in April as Fed tightening takes effect (Financial Times)
A new Supreme Court case seeks to legalize assault weapons in all 50 states (Vox)
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has signed a bill greatly restricting the ability of many foreign nationals to buy land in the state, and barring most Chinese citizens from purchasing any land there whatsoever. [HuffPost]
Sexual abuse verdict renews Republican doubts about Trump’s electability (WP)
It’s psychological warfare season on the US border (Al Jazeera)
‘Leaving Behind All They Own’ as Wildfires Ravage Million Acres in Canada (NYT)
Montana GOP Gov. Greg Gianforte (R) appointed Jeremy Carl, an election denier and far-right conspiracy theorist with a record of espousing racist and transphobic views, to oversee statewide diversity programs. [HuffPost]
Remembering America's first social network: the landline telephone (NPR)
Restoring Gamma Wave Signals Could Counter Depression (Neuroscience News)
Scientists named a new type of butterfly after a Lord of the Rings character. (WP)
First-Time Homebuyers Purchase Nice Starter Doorknob (The Onion)
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