The brain is the new network bottleneck
A spirited discussion erupted recently among some Facebook friends who resented having their “anywhere, anytime” access privileges temporarily revoked to force them to focus on the meeting at hand.
Many of these folks have attended company events where Wi-Fi has been turned off intentionally to improve the likelihood that attendees will actually absorb what’s being discussed and decided in the here-and-now.
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Most people were furious at the idea, self-righteously claiming that they were grown-ups and it was up to them to manage their attention and focus. I agree in spirit, and I would likely go out of my mind if I were “cut off” from my wireless connection at some event, too.
On the other hand, wireless has really dropkicked the whole multitasking trend to a new level of zaniness. There’s a certain amount of juggling that is energizing, productive and desirable, and we all know the efficiency and productivity promise of mobility and wireless connections. But at what point do we all turn into glassy-eyed zombies not knowing if we’re coming or going? It is entirely possible to reach a point of diminishing returns (think distracted driving).
Some studies conducted in the past two years and reported on in scientific publications, indicate that the human brain is far less efficient at multitasking than the computers we’re trying to keep up with. According to reported functional MRI-based studies conducted by Vanderbilt University and biomedical research agency INSERM in Paris, limits on multitasking arise from slow processing in the prefrontal cortex.
One researcher reportedly concluded that our brains are unable to efficiently juggle more than two tasks because they have only two hemispheres available for task management. Surely, that depends on the type of task — walking, talking and chewing bubblegum at the same time come to mind.
Still, there’s reported evidence that at some point, people “see” the information around them but don’t really process it. When calculating the productivity ROI of computerization and mobility, business managers would probably do well to keep in mind that the new network bottleneck isn’t a skinny WAN link or a computer interface: It’s the human brain.
