Technology, Boredom, and Decision Management

Category: Knowledge

Published: 01/17/2010 08:05 a.m.

With the advances of technology we have made the things we want to do very easy. Communicating, purchasing, writing, viewing, etc. are all so easy to do. We can watch a screen and move our hands a little bit and accomplish just about anything. The problem arises when we have to decide what to do.

I don't have any data from boredom studies, but I bet they trend with technology. As technology goes up, so does boredom. This is not to say that technology makes us bored. I don't think it works that way. Instead, technology forces us to make more decisions. This makes us bored.

What is Boredom?

Boredom is not the same as not enjoying a task. Boredom is really the feeling of not knowing what to do next. In the olden days, there was so much to do that by the time you finished, you were too tired to do anything else. Or perhaps you had only a limited amount of free time, so deciding what to do to fill that small void was very easy. But now, with so much extra time and so many choices we are paralyzed into a state of boredom.

Why do I feel bored? Because I don't know what to do next. It isn't a lack of options, it is actually too many options. As I small child I don't recall feeling bored. I had a few toys that I liked and I played with them over and over. Now I stare at the 81 apps on my iPhone with no idea what to do/play next. Tweet something, play Strategery, check Mint, watch a video? The choices are endless.

This affects us a bit in our free time because there is pressure to use that time to do something that we can't normally do. Watching TV is seen as lazy, but it is a great decision in my mind. It fills time, is entertaining, and has a definitive start and end. Much different from 'work on a website'. This leads me to the other effect of this type of decision-making.

At work we constantly make small decisions on how we spend our time. Older blue-collar type jobs are great because there is little decision-making in what to do next. You simply do the same thing over and over. Monotonous? Yes. But boring? I don't think so. Both are frustrating or irritating, but they are in a different way.

Knowledge Workers

I work at a web company, which I love. I find most of my work interesting, but I still come across times of boredom due to decision paralysis. For knowledge workers who focus on large projects, decision-making is a huge part of the workday. Do this, then it's done. What's next? What's a priority? What's due? Work on something else for a bit. Then, what's next, priority, due, etc. The task we are really repeating all day is deciding what to do next.

Time management is the word typically used to describe this, but I really think it is decision management. I am typically very good at doing accurate work very quickly, but I lose too much time in between tasks. Most of don't crank out widgets everyday until we hit a quota. We 'work on things' until it's time to go home. Then we come back and work on them some more. It's required to accomplish large, complex projects that many of us are working on at any given time. It's the new way people work.

We Millennials are a breed of well-rounded people who can take on complex projects and do well at multiple types of things. We were taught and raised to work this way. I can't help but think this is a big evolutionary step in corporate America. Less specialization and more dynamic workers. The next logical step is in training people to be better decision-makers.

Central Thesis

The central thought of all this is:

1. The inability to make many quick decisions is the new timesuck.
2. It causes boredom and seems to be increasing with technology.
3. The top knowledge workers are people who are very good at making these types of decisions.
4. The days of "do this one action over and over" are slowing coming to an end.

What does this mean for you? Better start sharpening your decision-making sword. You are only going to be getting more and more decisions to make. Which of these 50 emails are important? Can this wait til tomorrow? Which project needs work now? Should I call or email? And on and on. You better start sharpening your decision-making sword. Now.

I wish I could recommend a book or something like that, but I really think all you need to do is practice. A very wise elementary art teach once told me the best way to get better at drawing is to stare at your finger and try to draw it 1,000 times. That's all it takes. Eventually your drawings will start to look like your finger.

Eventually you will be making lightning-quick decisions so you can get back to doing your real work.