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May 16, 2008
Are you hyperconnected?
Do you read email on your PDA before you get out of bed?
Do you Twitter in the bathroom?
Do you update your Facebook profile while IM'ing and talking on the phone?
If this sounds like you, you're probably part of the hyperconnected culture, where multi-tasking communication is the norm. The power switch is always on.
An IDC/Nortel study of some 2,400 people in 17 countries found that 16 percent of respondents are already hyperconnected, embracing a world of multiple devices and intense use of communication applications.
Companies will have to adapt to the growing number of hyperconnected employees whose work and personal lives are blurred together by all of those devices and applications, not to mention customers who'll want to communicate with companies the same way.
Are you hyperconnected? The magic number for devices is seven. That's seven devices for work or personal use while using at least nine applications like IM, text messaging, web conferencing and social networks.
I didn't think I was hyperconnected until I listed my devices and applications.
My devices
- Macbook Pro
- iPhone
- Landline phone
- Nuvi GPS system (in car)
- DirecTV
- iPod Shuffle
- Remote webcam
Applications
- Firefox
- Entourage
- iPhone text messaging
- Yahoo Messenger
- Skype VoiP
- Skype video conferencing
- SWOM
- Church of the Customer blog
- BlipTV
- Flickr
- YouTube
Are you hyperconnected and if so, is this a good thing or a bad thing for your overall mental health?
Other blogs that reference Are you hyperconnected?:
I fall well short of their definition of hyperconnectivity in terms of both devices and applications, BUT: (a) I think that most poeple -- especially my wife! -- would say I'm at least close to hyperconnected; and (b) I think that hyperconnectivity is vastly overrated as a means of productivity. There are still people who are highly connected or hyperconnected with just a cell phone. (I'm thinking of Hank Paulson when he was still at Goldman: 200 voicemails per day, but never used e-mail or IM in his life, I think.) I'm highly connected with e-mail, Twitter, and my blog.
The question to me is whether we're connected *enough*. To my mind, that's less about having device X or using application Y, and more about being as reachable as you need to be for your existings friends / relations / contacts / clients, and for new people who you'd like to add to these categories.
i would have to agree with Tim that hyper-connectivity doesn't doesn't always equal productivity. there are still too many attention drains and pitfalls. however i do see those that are able to monitor this amount of digital information in the unique position of being able to direct the future of this sort of communique though their use. btw, - i only have 3 devices - but certainly as many regularly used apps. i certainly don't see the need for a paid television service anymore...but thats just me.
I think it all depends on your demographic ... age, marital status, kids or not, technology-aware or tech-phobic. Years ago, when I was single, I would have wanted to be hyperconnected, always knowing what was going on. Now that I'm older, married and with kids, I'd rather throw all the connectivity out and focus on family. But that's so difficult to do, since everyone else is so jacked up on gadgets. I find it is virtually impossible (for me) to completely unwind. I find that I need at least 2 weeks of vacation, where the first week is simply getting off of the always-connected addiction. I would love to really be able to live a cellphone-optional (and other gadgets) life.
Jackie: as a recovering hyperconnected-er, I sympathize. I try not to IM the people I used to hyperconnect with, but you know how this goes -- you run into them (virtually -- hell, I've never actually met them of course). I repeat to myself, "I am not the sum total of the number of emails I get on my Blackberry in the presence of other people," as often as I need to.
Multitasking has become a bit overblown, in all honesty. I just read through Dave Lakhani's book, "The Power of an Hour" where he describes -- shudder -- the ability to avoid meaningless distraction and actually accomplish important things. We're all a light-year wide and a micron deep right now, and 99% of all the inbound (and outbound, if we're honest with ourselves) communication isn't really necessary.
We get this much information today because it's easy to send and to receive -- not because it's necessary or important. As a blog writer and a blog reader, I'm very acutely aware of this. Self-publishing is easy.
As a hyperconnected professional, I don't see this as a negative thing. In fact, imho, I feel these multiple technologies have helped make life a lot easier. Okay...I'll concede that the division between my work-world and my personal-world is extremely blurred and at times intrudes on my face-to-face relationships. However, our 24/7 work ethic seems to have become a standard in the Western culture. Therefore, if I have to spend several hours working at night, I appreciate the ability to sit on bed with my laptop, handheld, cellphone, etc. and work from home and yet still be able to spend time with my partner (versus the alternative of staying late at my office finishing up work-related projects). This is where the ability to stay hyperconnected is of great benefit to me.
The ability to stay "hyperconnected" while on vacation, helps me to avoid returning to a completely overwhelming workload, helps me alleviate work-related issues on the fly (in my physical absence), and allows me a more flexible work schedule. As for my own personal benefit...the ability to stay hyperconnected allows me to explore the area in which I'm vacationing, locate directions online, get reviews for restaurants in the area, change travel arrangements, send a gift at the last minute, helps me stay in touch with friends far and near, etc. The GPS, itself, is a true technology gem for those of us who are directionally-challenged and would prefer not to spend hours of precious vacation time driving around aimlessly, lost in an unfamiliar area.
Hyperconnected? Oh Yeah Baby! That's the way I roll.
hmmmm.... this is kind of scary. I guess I am. With my work, I try to stay on top of things and that involves all of my devices- cell phone, macbook, ipod, etc.
At times, I feel way too connected. With facebook, I know everyone's last move, text messages, email, etc. I almost expect for someone to get back to me in a reasonable amount of time.. I know that they got my email etc. I guess I depend too much on the technology at hand..
stepping away from the computer now ... :)
Jackie,
I've been meaning to blog on this and you've lit the fire. Being hyperconnected is neither a good thing or a bad thing ... it's what you do with the data you connect to that matters. One of the biggest things we found in our research of tuned in leaders was that they were smart enough to manage their time wisely and not get overwhelmed with useless, irrelevant information. They stay connected to be sure but their filters were more aligned to looking at all of these inputs (including Facebook, Twitter, Texts, YouTube videos and yes even old school e-mail) as just signals vs. an addition to your todo list. It seemed to us that folks who were hyperconnected and hyperresponsive were the ones who were tuned out because they were largely just busy. Working hard vs. working smart.
Phil
Hyperconnectivity = Double Edged Sword?
So many positives and negatives!
I get to a certain level of connectedness and then back off. I have a cell phone that I use and will screen calls.
My other vice or device is my laptop.
Email is checked multiple times a day, but via my laptop, not my cellphone.
I don't want to twitter or IM or even text. I do write on 5 blogs, 2 of them daily. I also am linked in and am on other social media, but even though I have both a myspace and facebook account, I only use them to keep track of others, like my kids.
There are times when technology gets in the way of real life, so I do limit my time on the internet and also do a lot of reading. Oh yeah, work too!
I teach at a University,and I would say most of my students are hyperconnected. But when talking to them about it, I find they are looking forward to getting out of school and 'scaling back'. They think that since they're balancing so much...school, jobs, school projects, extra currics, friends, family, etc...that they need to be hyperconnected so they don't 'miss' anything. They want their 'real lives' to be simpler..perhaps a cell phone and a computer and that's it.
Well I guess this is called "live with our times" ; As we don't get fool, and not slave of tech, we can get all advantages to do so. Save time and have more pleasure to share and learn.
A gift, in a way...
I think I have a problem, besdies being overly competitive, hehe
My devices
1. HP 17' laptop
2. Motorola SLVR
3. Vonage w 800 number (866 actually)
4. Garmin Magellan 32oo
5. DirecTV
6. Ipod 80GB
7. Remote webcam -- HMM? None of my antiques work w Vista
8. XM Radio
9. ION Turntable (Vinyl to MP3)
Applications
1. Firefox
2. BrightKite
3. text messaging from PC those little keyboards don't suit my fat fingers
4. Yahoo/MSN/Hotmail through Trillian
5. Skype VoiP
6. Skype video conferencing
7. Facebook
8. Twitter
9. SWOM FTR(socialauthority) TeamCircle GotWebMojo Women Internet Marketers The Social Networks WebRing
Above are all on Ning!
10. RSS feed of COC mike1mb.blogspot.com
11. BlipTV
12. Flickr Myspace FaceBook
13. YouTube
I know I'm behind in the video race, but I'm not pretty.
