Can communication tools increase productivity?
Can communication tools increase productivity? Meet Diane. She’s a classic multitasker, zipping through the grocery store, steering her wire basket with one hand while she clutches her iPhone with the other. She’s nailing down details for the church fundraiser, which she instantly tweets into cyberspace as she slips her credit card through the self-checkout machine. Minutes later, idling in her car, she’s on her laptop skyping her sister in London while texting her husband in Vermont. By the time Diane gets home and discovers she’s forgotten the eggs, she’ll have tweeted, Facebooked, IM’d, texted and e-mailed a dozen more times. Exasperated, she swears that next time she’s leaving her smart phone at home. People have been forgetting items at the market since before Morse code; one can’t necessarily blame technology for lapses in focus. But communication tools like cell phones, e-mail, instant messaging (IM), video conferencing and social networking have revolutionized the way we intera
