We all know how disruptive repeatedly checking your e-mail can be. Did you know that reading too much e-mail, too often, can lower your IQ, too?
CNN reports that according to Dr. Glenn Wilson, a psychiatrist at King's College London University, constantly reading email is costing you a loss of productivity (we knew that) and possibly a few IQ points.
... the IQ of those who tried to juggle messages and work fell by 10 points -- the equivalent to missing a whole night's sleep and more than double the 4-point fall seen after smoking marijuana.You can tell everyone that you aren't going to be checking your e-mail but once or twice a day.
"This is a very real and widespread phenomenon," Wilson said. "We have found that this obsession with looking at messages, if unchecked, will damage a worker's performance by reducing their mental sharpness.
I wonder what my IQ is now - adjusted for all of the e-mail I read, of course. Perhaps I don't want to know.
What about reading blogs?
Have a great weekend ... and don't check your e-mail!
It will still be there on Monday.
Discussion/Comments (2):
Hmmm. Finally, an explanation of why I'm getting dumber. And here I thought it was apathy and old age.
Posted at 4/23/2005 8:29:38 PM by Randy Charles Morin
I rarely get enough sleep but I only read my email two or three times a day. Does that mean that it's a tie? If I got more sleep but checked my email more often would my IQ be the same?
If blogs lower your IQ, then I'm really in trouble.
Posted at 4/25/2005 10:01:08 PM by Tanny O'Haley