Recently in Life Kills Category

It's totally true.  I mean, it's an extreme case of one guy's complete and utter obsession, a direct result of his reliance on IT to work and entertain himself... but it's relevant to all of us.  Look at iPhone users (and yes, even Android people too, lol).  How often have you seen two people sitting across from each other, enjoying some hot beverage, and staring at their phones?

Every once in a while someone pipes up and starts with the whole "computers are turning us into antisocial drones" or "our ability to interact socially is being destroyed by technology."  It's unfortunately true.  I know plenty of people who are incapable of the most basic levels of successful social interaction simply because they're spending way too much time sitting in front of a glowing screen... yet they're super active on Facebook.  Nice.

Keyboard cowboys are familiar to anyone who spends any time on a forum.  People who are 'brave' and will say nearly anything, express opinions, and just be social while logged in, but at the end of the day - when confronted - will always balk.  It's a sad (though sometimes entertaining) phenomenon.  

It even happens to me, and I go out of my way to make sure I interact, to make absolutely sure that I'm attempting to expose myself as much as possible to social stimuli that goes beyond staring at a screen.  I get upset when I'm too disconnected - when I don't even have my phone to keep my dopamine squirts going.  There's nothing we can do.  We've made this bed, perpetuated this reliance on technology for our stimuli.  Now we gotta lie in it.  Although there is something to going full lo-fi and disappearing into the woods.

An interesting point that this article brings up is the whole angle on multi-tasking and how it's actually not a good thing.  After years and years (heck, maybe even decades) of having people pound the concept of multi-tasking being a good thing, this is just a breath of fresh air and a reflection on what I've been saying for the last 8 years - basically since I started managing teams and really reflecting on the effectiveness of my teams.  Task-switching is the biggest killer of time, right up there with micro-managing pricks.  Multi-tasking is, in essence, its own worst enemy, and it is a concept fully capable of rendering any team completely immobilized by its own ability to handle multiple projects.  

It's a concept that requires some reflection to really absorb, and should also require some experience (either on the line or more importantly managing the line) in order to really appreciate.  Minimal research into the matter (a la Google) will give you no shortage of interesting information for you to assimilate, and just thinking about it will be, I think, beneficial.  

Enter Polyphasic Sleep! (Cue horns and cymbals...)

So basically polyphasic sleep is an organized system of what I already do: napping in order to break up regular sleep rhythms into smaller periods, which then (potentially) results in longer periods of awakedness.  Sweet!

By regularizing the periods of sleep, the theory is that we can stay awake longer.  I've been testing this theory (inadvertently) for decades, and it's really interesting to read about what military testing and NASA have uncovered about the efficacy of this method.

Basically, government agencies say that it doesn't work.  

It goes against the body's natural circadian rhythms and, while it can be induced, there is a significant degradation in performance.  Studies show that we can operate on an induced polyphasic schedule and maintain a minimal performance for a time before our bodies start to manifest the signs of severe sleep deprivation.

Whoa, well, that's really great and all, but I know that I've been practicing the fine art of polyphasic sleep for ages.  I find it very useful for those bursts of productivity where you absolutely, positively, indubitably must get that project done by such-and-such date.  

Afterwards, sure, there's a crash, but it's not as bad as you'd think... a full nights' sleep and it's back to business as usual.  This method has served me well and, combined with judicious use of caffeine, can result in about a solid week of pretty high levels of performance and focus, followed by a full night of sleep, maybe the following day to 'rest' by doing unfocused tasks (what I like to call "leisure activities" or "hobbies"), and that 'resets' the clock.  I've personally gone through two months of this cycle, back-to-back, before noticing some emotional breakdown and other signs of extended fatigue.  

The other thing I noticed is that this only works for focused tasks and projects.  In my experience, the time lost in task-switching is exponentially increased during these periods.  This results in a decreased ability to multi-task "out of project" (though not necessarily within a project, if the tasks are related and can find a tie to other tasks), so I wouldn't recommend it if you're trying to close out, say, two or three separate projects at a time unless you take into consideration those potential gaps and keep them to a minimum.

I don't think it's something that can be kept up to the extreme degrees that many of the proponents claim, for extended periods, but I do think it's very doable in bursts and can be very effective in adding those 'extra hours' to the day that everyone wishes they had.  I am, however, going to take a methodical approach to this and staging my own study.  I mean, it's not like it'll require a huge lifestyle change, lol! :)

Great group of kids, lots of fun and very enthusiastic!