Andy Rooney begins every Sunday night on 60 Minutes with something like, “And now a few minutes with Andy Rooney.” He then launches into a commentary about something he usually wants to gripe about. Well, here are a few minutes with David Powell about my current gripe—Blackberrys.

Ok, I will admit it, I have a Blackberry. For years, I’d watch people on planes turning on their Blackberrys (or similar devices) as soon as the plane’s wheels hit the ground, checking their emails. I swore I did not want a Blackberry because I’d turn into a “Crackberry” addict. I succumbed. I too compulsively switch it on when we land. I admit it; it is a time-saving device. Now, instead of pulling into an airport or hotel searching for a “hot spot,” I can now stay current with my emails, announcing that I have won $10 million in a lottery in Nigeria, or keep up with the latest deals on
Viagra. Whatever would I do without such news!

However, there is something about this instant news world in which we live that bugs me. When did we become so important that we have to be constantly available by phone or email? What happened so that we can no longer sit in a conference or a classroom, learning about the latest and greatest new breakthrough in addiction treatment or evidence-based practices, without being accessible to the world? What happened to agencies where counselors have to be on call 24/7? Don’t we have back-up for staff any more? Are we running so short staffed that a counselor cannot even go to a conference or training without being available all the time?

Now, I do a lot of training. I know what you are doing during my brilliant lectures when you look under your tables and are fumbling with something. No, not that. It’s your Blackberry; you’re texting someone something about that seemingly is so important that you cannot pay attention to the class. It was bad enough years ago when someone in the front row of my class (in a school that will remain anonymous) pulled out her Ladies Home Journal and read through­out the class. That’s just plain rude (or I was really boring, which is very possible). Now, it seems like we all have a license to text anyone, anytime, anywhere, seemingly doing so under the desk where no one can see.

How about the student in the Wi-Fi classroom, supposedly taking notes (as if the 20-page PowerPoint handouts given out is not sufficient). What he is really doing (come on now, be honest! This is an honest program) is texting someone or surfing the web for the latest deals on hair styling products—something I rarely need to do any more.

Or, you know what really bugs me, is when we announce at the beginning of every class or lecture to “please turn off your cell phones or put them on vibrate” and the phones ring during the most emotionally-laden part of my lecture. Some get up and walk out of the room to take the call, mumbling into the phone as they walk out “hold on please, I will be right with you.” Some have the audacity to talk into their cupped hands so no one else in the classroom will hear them—yeah, right!

Quite frankly, I don’t want to hear your conversation with your wife about the fight you had with her last night. I really don’t care where you are going for dinner tonight with your secret, clandestine date who you just met last night at the conference. If your child is in trouble at school, what are you doing in a classroom at that time anyway? Go to school and help them. I’d much rather have you pay attention and soak up all the pearls of wisdom I am imparting. After all, didn’t someone pay your tuition to attend this class? Maybe learning has become secondary to “getting our tickets punched for hours for credentialing.”

On a more serious note, New York Times Magazine recently featured an article on multi-tasking, which stated, “There is a big misconception that multi-tasking is a more efficient way to work and accomplish tasks, yet many multi-taskers are wondering why they don’t have more time and balance in life. The truth is multi-tasking gives you the illusion of being more productive, but really slows down everything you do.”

It cites the research of David Meyer, director of the Brain, Cognition and Action Laboratory at the University of Michigan, who said that multi-tasking actually disrupts listening and learning. Distract-ability while multi-tasking, execution of the first task (listening in class) usually leads to post­ponement of the second one (texting) or vice versa. There is a bottleneck at the central, amodal stage of information processing. The neural network of frontal lobe areas acts as a central bottleneck of information processing that severely limits our ability to multi-task. The brain has a core limitation in its ability to concentrate on two things at once, despite our pride that says we can.

Studies at Microsoft have demonstrated that people can easily be distracted while performing multiple tasks, and it takes them time to readjust to the primary task after being distracted. If it’s this bad at Microsoft, it has to be worse in a classroom, despite how engaging I may be as a trainer.
In other words, while texting during training you are actually not taking in as much as you think you are, on either task. You’re wasting your money. We obviously all should know by now that talking on the phone (or worse, texting) while driving is dangerous.

Some possible solutions:
1. Training centers, conference organizers, summer schools—set up a Blackberry free zone. Don’t allow cell phones, Blackberrys, etc. in the lecture hall. Have students check them at the door. If an important call comes in, the administrator of the training can come into the classroom and notify the student of the important message.
2. Turn off the email notification on your Blackberry, at least as long as the class runs. You can do it on planes when it is mandatory. Why can’t you do it in a classroom?
3. In supervision, both supervisor and supervisees, turn off the phones. Off, not on vibrate. If you have not arranged for coverage while you are in supervision, you have another management problem: insufficient staff; inadequately or poorly trained staff to cover for you; or, maybe, we just think we are so important or essential to the agency that we must be on call all the time.
4. Use technology on your own terms, not its.
5. Establish hours and days of avail­ability and communicate them to your colleagues. Being on call 24–7 will burn you out. Is it any wonder why people burn out in our field?
6. Establish priority levels based on the type of communication. For example: emails are generally low priority communications, unless
you really care about winning that lottery in Britain. SMS is for medium priority communication. Phone-cell to cell phone is for higher priority communi­cation, but only if it is a real emergency. Most clinicians do not need to know the daily activities of staff on an instantaneous basis.
7. Enjoy a better work/life balance.

In sum, get a life! Try detoxifying from instant news and 24–7 messaging, and pay attention in class. After call, isn’t learning what you’re there for. I hope Andy Rooney would be proud of this article, which I wrote while listening to my I-pod, eating lunch and watching the World Cup on television.

David J. Powell, PhD, President, International Center for Health Concerns, Inc., is an internationally recognized lecturer, trainer and author. David has played a significant role in the develop­ment and operations of the Oya Bahadir Yuksel 

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