Gloria Mark, Informatics professor at UC Irvine, has spent a few decades researching what happens when people spend a lot of time online. Is there a limit to how much multitasking one can do and still be productive? Does stress of switching between various processes, and having continuous “interruptions” add up to more trouble than it’s worth?
The world is continuing to shrink as social computing grows. Never before have people been able to connect to others and to information sources so rapidly and on such a global scale. This is a fascinating time to study how technology use affects people.
My research interest is in what is known as social computing: studying how individuals, groups, society and technology mutually influence each other. I am particularly interested in studying how information technology use affects multi-tasking, attention, mood, and above all, stress.
Social Computing is similar to Social Learning Construct…as far as the factors involved that determine or shape, enable or disable, the collaborative learning space. We need a lot of “innovation” to make sure that besides just knowing our ergonomics, we know our emotional requirements for quality online experiences.
Logic would say, that as is true with almost anything in this world, there can be “too much of a good thing”. We know humans have limits in our biology, which eventually brings to an end any activity and requires rest, relaxation, and refueling, and a few other biological necessities, including keeping the circulation going in our limbs, and the blood flowing rich in oxygen to our brain.
So, how much interruption of our attention can we cope with, and is multitasking efficient up to a point? If so, what’s that point of diminishing returns. And what is safe?
We’ve established it’s not safe to drive and talk on a cell phone, or drive while doing a lot of other activities. There have been tests run giving a driver on a test course, tasks to do while they are driving, and it’s not too hard to “make” the driver lose track of what he’s doing and drive off the course.
That’s not the only kind of mistake we can make using powerful machines, including cloud tools, needless to say.
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