Screen Sucking

I am always curious about the various strategies people have for time management. In particular, my nemisis is anything with a screen on it. My Blackberry and Mac top the list. Like an alcoholic, I am addicted to LCD’s and the connectivity they bring me.

Dr. Edward Hallowell has written a couple of books on the increasing craziness of our worlds these days. Interestingly enough, his core specialty is treating kids for ADD. In “Crazy Busy”, he lays out a broad array of time abusers and approaches to dealing with them. He doesn’t condemn this new world but rather describes it as one of the most engaging, exciting and interactive of times. It is because of this energy that we are drawn to the rush of always connected, all the time.

He refers to my illness as “Screen Sucking”. Unchecked, it will consume 24 hours a day. There is always someone to send an email to or receive one. It is our generation’s IM.

He recommends setting windows (every hour or two, for 10 or 20 minutes) to answer email. Use a timer so it doesn’t expand out. Others take a real-time approach and answer critical emails (preset key people to screen) as they come in. Remaining messages are batched for later or trashed. I’m always open for hearing different approaches. Until a 12 step program comes out, we are all left to figure this out together.