Many of us see hyperconnectivity as a good thing, but it can easily lead to a state of continuous partial attention where you aren’t really focused on anything.It is becoming increasingly common to find people who remain connected to their social networks (beyond uploading a photo or tweet about the event) with mobile devices during live social functions.
I see this all the time at networking meetings, such as at a BNI chapter meeting, a chamber of commerce luncheon or even a gala dinner.
While our desire to connect and be connected is one of the strengths of business and social networking, when we are actually in person at an event where we want to effectively be connecting with others, this desire can actually dilute our efforts.
Accept your limitations
We have probably all experienced being in a conversation with someone at a networking function and getting pinged during the conversation.
When we take our attention off what is happening in front of us to take a look at what is happening on our phone, we lose the connection with the person we’re speaking to.
We will not remember this part of the conversation well, if at all. And we will send a subtle message to this person that they do not matter as much as the various pings coming from our mobile device.
Continuous partial attention can hamper your efforts to build profitable business relationships with the people you want to connect with.
The truth is that our brains are not capable of multitasking. They don’t work like a computer, which can have many programs running simultaneously. Our minds have to switch between tasks. Some of us can switch between tasks extremely quickly, leading to a false sense of multitasking.
Then there are those of us whom find switching between tasks to be more difficult, making it extremely challenging to really pay sustained attention to anything when trying to multitask.
Working while distracted
Most of us work at our computers, laptops or tablets with notifications switched on.
We have email, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Skype, YouTube, Tumblr and Snapchat pinging, chirping and whistling as notifications shout, “Look at me! Someone retweeted you! Someone wants to be your friend!”
Even people who don’t suffer from attention deficit (hyperactivity) disorder are working in a state of attention deficit due to the distraction of notifications. These are the people in the “prayer neck” posture — hunched over looking down at their hands while holding their mobile device.
It is very easy to lose track of whom you have just followed up with. You end up sending your follow-up email twice, referencing something you were discussing with someone else or, worse yet, send an email to the wrong person entirely.
Continuous partial attention keeps you from being alert, attentive and focused, hampering your post-event follow up.
Social media is great.
I use it regularly to stay in touch and build relationships. But knowing when to focus on the face-to-face interactions and put notifications on Do Not Disturb is also extremely important in this ever expanding digital age. ●
