We all know about the Industrial Age. When we made and built things. When workers worked in factories for an hourly wage.
Then, over time, we shifted to the Information Age. In which, in the words of Peter Drucker, we became knowledge workers. We traded in ideas and data. We thought things.
Now, according to Dr. Tore Claesson of Gothenburg University, we are living in the Interruption Age. This is when we become workers who do nothing except refocus for about twelve seconds until we are interrupted again.
A lot of interruption comes from the devices that surround us. In our work spaces, our homes, our sidewalks, our automobiles we are surrounded by an array of pings, dings and zings. They announce to us that we've received a message. A message that is so important it is allowed to interrupt you. Lights flash, windows pop up. You have a message. You are interrupted by that fact.
We try to find sanctuary. But our offices are open plan. So, you are interrupted. Anyone going for coffee? Someone curses. Someone else is talking about the blisters caused by her new shoes. Others are discussing weekend plans.
Today we have a battery of machines that should technically allow us to do our jobs faster than ever before. But, we work slower than ever before. I released ads yesterday that we started concepting in January.
This is life in the Interruption Age.
