So the NY Times had this piece (Too Much Information? Ignore It) about Timothy Ferriss, author of The 4-Hour Workweek, who apparently is a darling of tech entrepreneur Marc Andreesen and other Silicon Valley types.
The main message was that you can save lots of time and work more efficiently by reducing multitaksing and information consumption.
The author is also an entrepreneur who has just said no to IM, text messaging, blogging and constant email (incredibly, he has outsourced the job of wading through his email to Indian workers).
Although voracious reading is an occupational hazard in PR (i.e. if you want to be any good at it), I have often pondered how much extra time I would have available if I just ignored all, or a good portion of the stuff I feel compelled to read every day – and Western civilization likely would not fall.
I think these thoughts as I embark on a two day business trip without a cell phone (coincidentally, I just lost mine, it is not a sign that these ideas are taking hold, at least not consciously).
It is a very unsettling feeling. You tent to feel naked and anxious when these things happen, not unlike the feeling you get when you lose your broadband connection at home or can’t get to email.
I doubt I am alone in experiencing intense anxiety when cut off from various forms of electronic communications.
Could a new DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) manual entry be not far behind? Or perhaps a novel murder defense?
Stand well back, I am in no mood 🙂
