With the availability of mobile technology such as smart phones and wifi hotspots, we’re always connected. The moments of downtime that our brains used to process thoughts are now filled with mindless filling of games, apps, blog, and messaging. By filling in all these moments in the day, we are doing the equivalent of not “sleeping.” Some of the free moments include (what other moments are there?):
- Waiting in line
- Sitting in traffic
- Waiting for food at a restaurant
- Drinking coffee
- Eating breakfast/lunch/dinner
In fact, this same mentality is brought into the workplace. We force our employees to “work” by doing something rather than letting free space and free time inspire innovation, creativity, and ultimate increase productivity. This backwards mentality creates overworked employees who don’t have the “bandwidth” to do anything other than the mindless tasks in front of them. If we create a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being a doing job to 10 being a creating job, as we go up the scale, employees require more free time to develop and process.
Happy 1/11/11 @ 11:11 AM
Yes. I agree. It's better to space out and let your mind wander rather than trying to fill that time with something meaningless or trying to cram more information into your brain. Some people carry a book and read during these down times… is that useful? I think it's useful if it's a book read for pleasure not for learning.
Another moment would be on the toilet. 🙂
I might take it a step further and say that reading for pleasure is like filling in space with TV time. Maybe that space really needs to be empty.