JOhN C. DvOrAk

jOHN C. DvOrAk

Lost Productivity Lament

There is some unwritten law or concept that tells us that computers have contributed to worker and individual productivity. The concept is even embedded in various productivity calculations whereby just getting a faster machine means you have higher productivity.

I question this, as I have been with the desktop computer scene and have had a personal computer—usually the hottest one around—since 1976. My productivity as a columnist is obviously improved by word processing, but the difference between a word processor in 1980 and a word processor in 2009 insofar as my personal productivity is concerned shows no difference. It peaked right away.

And how many people are writers where they can show any productivity at all? The way I see it, only writers, accountants using spreadsheets, and graphic artists using Photoshop can show any real productivity gains of any consequence insofar as the desktop computer is concerned.

And, yes, the microprocessors have aided machinists and embroiderers, and that does affect productivity. But can we balance all these productivity gains with the downside of computers? Why isn’t that factored into the equation?

Where Did My Two Hours Go?

From the perspective of the desktop computer user, the opportunity for these machines to steal time is phenomenal. Ever go into a chat room? They are kind of interesting and compelling until you realize that you are communicating in one of the slowest and most demanding mediums ever. The relative baud rate is nil and time is squandered.

These chat rooms have almost all evolved into social networking quagmires. My daughter, who until recently eschewed Facebook, for example, used to spend her spare time making art. She adopted Facebook as a conduit for keeping up with friends, whom she sees all the time anyway, and now her time is simply wasted writing vapid posts.

This is just the tip of the time-wasting

BlackBerry users are glued to the screen 24/7 looking for new e-mail from anyone as if life and death depended on it.

iceberg. Computers give us highly realistic games that suck people into playing them for hours on end. And I’d rather not even want to get into the time-killer called Second Life. Here a person actually creates a whole second life in which he or she can waste countless hours within that structure and waste time as another person.

BlackBerry Breeds Social Misfits

And, of course, the microprocessor itself has permeated things other than a machine shop lathe. It is in the soon-to-be- ubiquitous smart phone. Just watch someone with a BlackBerry or an iPhone. The BlackBerry users are essentially glued to the screen 24/7 looking for any e-mail from anyone as if life and death depended on it. And the iPhone and its crazy apps can waste a whole day of someone’s time.

These little devices hijack even normal socialization. People take phone calls at dinner in a restaurant, they are constantly looking things up on the Web or tracking people or scanning the news.

As a technologist myself, I have obviously promoted smart devices and computers, but I do look around at my own increasing disorganization and remind myself that I originally got into computers to get more organized and more efficient, not less. Instead I got less organized and less efficient.

Messy Desk? Blame The Computer

What’s made me contemplate this dilemma is the discorganization of my physical desktop—you know, the one with the screen and keyboard sitting on it. Why can’t I keep it clean? I have to blame something other than myself, but I cannot bring myself to clearing it off and keep it clear. On occasion I have brought in a box and just scraped everything off the desk straight into the box then sorted out the box while watching TV. The desk is now cleared off but within just a few days it’s covered with papers and cables and other crap and the process has to be re-initiated.

I know the computer is to blame. Somehow computer usage has made me more of a slob than I am naturally. I’m absolutely sure that if Marshall McLuhan were alive he could explain it. It has something to do with the mouse, or the interactivity or the bright screen or being in constant contact with too many strangers or something like that.

While I am not sure this lament will do me any good, my advice is simple. Get off the machine! Throw out your iPhone and do some gardening. Go build something.

At least turn off your phone when you are in a restaurant. That would be a start.

Dvorak Live on the WeB John’s Internet TV show airs every Wednesday at 3:30 ET on CrankyGeeks.com. You can download back episodes whenever you like.