The Modern Brain, Besieged

One editor stands behind my right shoulder with a question about my story. Another sends me messages on our in-house messaging system. Two AOL Instant Messenger windows flash on and off with chatter from some friends. The desk phone is ringing -- again -- with a PR rep pitching me on something I might write about someday, while I'm shuffling e-mails to figure out which ones I'll answer. Then someone calls on the cell phone. I am the center of the information universe, and it's making me stupid.

And I'm not the only one. A new study out of the U.K. claims that the profusion of ways to communicate renders us wired but completely distracted. The end result is a poor one: a 10-point reduction in our IQs.

Gee, do you think it shows?

The study, commissioned by Hewlett-Packard and conducted by University of London psychologist Glenn Wilson, calls the term "Info-Mania." HP provides a guide on its causes and cures , including a questionnaire that determines whether you suffer from this malady. You may if you answer "yes" to questions such as:

* On the train, do you call the office every 10 minutes to check messages and give your ETA?

* Do you secretly (or openly) check and send e-mails during meetings or meals?

* Do you "just have to check messages" before going to an hour-long meeting? Do you check for new messages within one minute of leaving a meeting?

* Do you seem to spend more time reading and responding to communications than you spend actually doing what you need to do?

Apparently Fleet Street thinks enough people fit the profile, so the study got plenty of play in the British press. The Scotsman offered this summary: "Solution is: Switch off!"

Infomania, Wilson told the paper, can affect the brain's effectiveness even more than marijuana, though "the impairment only lasts for as long as the distraction. But you have to ask whether our current obsession with constant communication is causing long-term damage to concentration and mental ability."

Wilson conducted the test on 80 people, according to Kerry Gaffney, an outside PR spokeswoman for HP. In the first test, Wilson instructed them to tend to a variety of tasks as well as take an IQ test. In the second test, he asked them to perform the same tasks while under a deluge of phone calls, e-mail messages and other electronic claims to their attention. They were also instructed, however, to not pay attention to those distractions. Unfortunately for them, they couldn't help it.

The Scotsman said the study affirms what some business leaders have long suspected. It cited the example of telecommunications mogul John Caudwell, who banned his staff from e-mailing, calling it "the cancer of modern business." (But he's fond of using mobile phones , apparently.)