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Emma Charlton at the World Economic Forum summarizes a report that finds by cutting out three 10-minute social media checks a day you could read as many as 30 more books a year.
"Just a couple of five-minute breaks every hour are hundreds of hours yearly," the Omni Calculator's creators say. "You cut your social media time by half, and you still get plenty of time to read, run or earn money."
It recommends turning off push notifications that appear on your screen, deleting some apps, calling your friends rather than messaging them, and taking short holidays from all social media once in a while.
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How Many Extra Books Could You Read If You Quit Social Media?
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Grelb's Reminder:
Eighty percent of all people consider themselves to be above
average drivers.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by darkfeline on Monday August 19 2019, @06:00AM (3 children)
If I could reallocate chunks of the day I would be a god.
As it is, I can't reallocate ten minutes here and there and join them into a 30 minute block of time. Without such a superpower, replacing consumption of small bits of content with reading books does not work, unless you're a delusional manager. Three hours interspersed with meetings is not the same as a contiguous block of three hours. Context switches are extremely expensive.
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(Score: 2) by canopic jug on Monday August 19 2019, @06:40AM (1 child)
Context switches are extremely expensive.
So, are people interrupting their workflow with social media checks or interrupting their social media checks with the activities they are supposed to be paying attention too [independent.co.uk]?
Money is not free speech. Elections should not be auctions.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 19 2019, @08:40AM
Yes.
(Score: 2) by AthanasiusKircher on Monday August 19 2019, @01:35PM
True. And maybe reading in those 10 minute chunks is not productive for you. (I do know some people who read books in those small chunks, and it doesn't bother them.)
So maybe find a different productive activity to do in those 10-minute chunks. It's easy to just go check Facebook/whatever social media. Or go check your email. (Dealing inefficiently with email can also be a huge time waste.) But maybe find something else to do that you'll both enjoy and will satisfy some goal. Maybe go to one of those quiz websites and learn the names of countries in the continents you never learned well. Or do virtual/physical flashcards for words in another language. (Language practice is often best done intermittently anyway -- get an app and do that instead of social media.) Or make a cup of tea -- explore different types of tea and use the time to relax. Or take a walk around the office and get some exercise.
Or, you know, just sit and "be bored." Time for self-reflection seems to be disappearing these days, but it's really important to just sit back and think. Studies have shown it's important for cognitive processes, memory, developing understanding of a new topic... all sorts of things.
People have had 10-minute chunks of downtime ever since people have worked for someone else. Whether you're in an office or digging ditches in a field, at some point your boss is going to say, "Hold on a sec," while he figures out the next step or while you're waiting for another worker to show up to complete a task. The question is what you do with that time. As I said, for some people reading seems to be an option -- they don't mind small chunks. If you do, I'll bet there are a lot more useful options for using that time than reading an endless list of BS on Facebook or whatever.