William F. Garrity

In The New York Times:(For whatever it's worth--doesn't include many contemporary technologies, e.g., Twitter)

October 25, 2009

Swimming, or Just Wading, in Technology

By PHYLLIS KORKKI

Workplace communication used to be simple. Usually you called or sent a letter to someone outside the office. And this may be hard to remember, but if workers were in the same office, they went over to one another’s desks and talked face to face.

Now the options have grown. Why talk when you can e-mail, instant-message or text someone? Similarly, instead of typing, using an adding machine or just jotting things down, workers can now use word processing programs, sophisticated spreadsheets and digital calendars.  

But a survey by Forrester Research shows that many information workers are using new technology only selectively. The most popular forms are e-mail, word processing, Web browsers and spreadsheets. While 87 percent of the workers use e-mail, only 26 percent use instant messaging.

Whether that is good or bad is an open question. Depending on the worker, adding a new technology can increase efficiency, or it can turn into time-wasting distraction.