Fatal distractions?

SEVERAL years back, a colleague had a long-distance love affair with a guy she met on the Internet.
To minimise substantial increase on both their telephone bills, the couple relied heavily on e-mail.
At that time, short message service (SMS) was not yet available and so e-mail remained their main means of communications.
They would “talk” via e-mail, translating each emotion into words before hitting the “Enter” key.
Joy, sadness, anger, and even their deepest secrets were transmitted digitally across oceans that separated them.
In addition to e-mail accounts from their Internet access service providers, they also utilised many other Web-based e-mail services that were readily available for free.
Without fail, each would check his and her e-mail as consistent as the rate of their heartbeat.
With SMS going mainstream, similar consistency can be observed with people communicating with their loved ones via SMS.
Cheaper and faster technological means to whisper those terms of endearment are keeping many love birds “high” on cloud nine even at the workplace.
Maybe something is indeed messing with their heads.
According news reports, a study done in the United Kingdom showed that workers distracted by e-mail, text messages and phone calls suffer a greater loss of IQ than a person smoking marijuana.
Unfortunately for the employers, such constant interruptions could reduce productivity and leave people feeling tired and lethargic.
The study also showed the IQ of those studied who tried to juggle messages and work fell by 10 points.
This is the equivalent to missing a whole night’s sleep and more than double the four-point decrease observed after smoking marijuana.
Either love or technology, they are definitely “high” on something.