Constantly Checking Email Makes Us Dumber

What activity do we engage in often that –although apparently benign– surreptitiously has the effect of slowing us down, making us dumber and less able to concentrate? The answer: constantly checking your email.

We are all short on time and we love to multi-task. At home, we talk on our cells while we watch TV, cook or walk the dog. At work, we monitor our emails while editing a presentation, preparing a report or taking part in a conference call.

But contrary to what we tell ourselves, multi-tasking does not save time. Actually there is no such thing as multi-tasking; there is only rapid-switching-between-tasks. Every time we switch from one task to the next, we pay a cognitive price. It takes us both extra energy and extra time to resume the original task from where we left off.

This is why multi-tasking actually slows us down, increases stress and mistakes, drains our mental energy, and reduces our ability to concentrate.

Yeah, but does that mean it makes us dumber? Apparently yes. According to an English study juggling work and emails lowered worker IQs by 10 points, more than the 4 point lowering effect of pot!

So if it doesn’t save time then why do we do it? For the dopamine. Checking email provides instant gratification, satisfies our curiosity and –let’s be honest- it’s easier than concentrating.

I recently got a new smartphone and for about a week, while the email settings were still set to default- — the darn device was notifying me the minute every email was delivered to my inbox. Having zero willpower, I constantly had to “just take peek”. And yes, my productivity suffered, in this uncontrolled study of one.

So how do we battle the always-checking-your-email dragon?
Change your settings so that your device only fetches emails on the terms of your choosing. Depending on your job, that could be every half hour, once or twice a day or even just manually. The point is not how long you go between checking email, (even 30 minutes of no interruption helps) what’s important is that the choice be yours, and not at random. After all each IQ point is precious.