Tweet if you like to procrastinate

I am always amazed at how much I get done on my focused writing days — the days when I leave the office and camp in one of the cafés or restaurants where ambient noise helps me concentrate and write, write, write. But it’s not my word count that amazes me:...

Protect your intention span from the distractions of social media

Tonight I coined the term “intention span” to refer to the amount of time that passes between intending to work on something and actually starting work. Intention span: The amount of time that passes between intending to work on something and actually...

The 5 questions to ask about online distraction

Whether you’re worried about the Internet’s impact on your attention span, or tired of hearing about how life online is driving us to distraction, these 5 questions will help you think more deeply about online distraction.

If we didn’t have computers…

LOVE Social Media but If we didn’t have computers-wouldn’t need #SocialMediab/c we wouldn’t have stopped being social in the 1st place. When I first shared this interesting tweet from online pal Brenda Johima, it was with some reservations. After...

Strategies for managing online distraction from Steven Pinker

Psychologist Steven Pinker has a terrific op-ed in the New York Times this morning, responding to the recent flurry of press about how the Internet is destroying the quality of our attention and thinking. Here’s my favorite part of his article: Yes, the constant...

5 solutions to hyperthinking and hypertasking

While working my way through the consultation paper on Canada’s Digital Advantage, I found myself: investigating the best way to copy and paste text from a PDF to Evernote, leading to an open browser window with a series of tabs about various options for...

My ten online vices

There are online activities I never get around to — like organizing my photo library — and then there are the activities that are my eternal time sucks. Here are some of the online activities that have stolen years of my life.