We talk a lot about distractions at work.
Windows 3.1 – Windows ’98 people talked about the plight of solitaire.
Before that it was conversations at the water cooler.
Today, we talk about Facebook.
I don’t think that distractions are the problem. Distractions are par for the course. Distractions have always existed and there is virtually no stopping it.
A far larger problem are interruptions.
While a distraction may be a willing break from the grind, an interruption is an unwelcome intrusion of your productivity.
And strangely interruptions are widely accepted where as distractions are not.
If I had to guess which makes more of an economic impact on a company, I’d sooner focus efforts on eliminating interruptions rather than distractions.