It’s the phones. Our attention spans and ability to focus have been destroyed by constant little hits of dopamine.
Phones were invented this year? Or why did they have an effect only just now?
U.S. workers have gotten less productive – no one is sure why
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Re: U.S. workers have gotten less productive – no one is sure why
#22> In the first half of 2022, productivity — the measure of how much output in goods and services an employee can produce in an hour — plunged by the sharpest rate on record going back to 1947, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. > The productivity plunge is perplexing, because productivity took off to levels not seen in decades when the coronavirus pandemic forced an overnight switch to remote work…
If this is true, why was productivity so high pre-pandemic when everyone was in an office?
Re: U.S. workers have gotten less productive – no one is sure why
#23Weird that energy / natural resource costs werent mentioned given the way that productivity is calculated.
Re: U.S. workers have gotten less productive – no one is sure why
#24It’s the phones. Our attention spans and ability to focus have been destroyed by constant little hits of dopamine.
But why now? It seems like that would have happened sooner.
I suspect that phone usage went up substantially during the pandemic, and that had somewhat of a lag effect to show up in these reports.
Re: U.S. workers have gotten less productive – no one is sure why
#25> In the first half of 2022, productivity — the measure of how much output in goods and services an employee can produce in an hour — plunged by the sharpest rate on record going back to 1947, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. > The productivity plunge is perplexing, because productivity took off to levels not seen in decades when the coronavirus pandemic forced an overnight switch to remote work…
I'm of the opinion that WFH has been a net negative to productivity. Measuring productivity was much easier for managers to do when everyone was in the office as employees would find it more difficult to hide attempts at slacking off. Those who are less productive when WFH are less willing to admit it and I believe it's the reason why whenever the topic of WFH comes up, it's drowned by the voices of all those who say it's been absolutely great for them.
I don't think anyone is going to argue about the conveniences this WFH culture has brought. And I'm certain there quite a number of people who can prove how much better their work has been because of this shift. Those who are being far less productive, though, are kinda ruining it for the rest of us and lots of managers know it. I think Satya is on point when he talked about what employers say about productivity and what their managers think is actually happening.
Re: U.S. workers have gotten less productive – no one is sure why
#26Perhaps people have had to expend more energy just keeping their personal life together in the last few years. People with children have had to deal with the constant school closings, childcare facility closings, etc. and that has taken its toll. They may have family members who got Covid or had treatment for other ailments delayed by the pandemic's rush to treat Covid patients. They could've experienced a huge shift…
During Covid, people were hiding in their homes, quarantined, with nothing to do but work. This year, companies expect workers to return to office, despite little change in conditions, except now we have to deal with all of the above issues you've just mentioned, AND the fact that employees have now proven they can work remotely perfectly well. It should neither be surprising that in a system where healthcare is tied…
All of what you've both said, plus the number of people who thought or still think COVID-19 is "no big deal" who now have a pulmonary deficiency and long-term mental fog.
Re: U.S. workers have gotten less productive – no one is sure why
#27I'm pretty sure I know why...
The working environment changed. Bit by bit I moved from an environment with gentleman's agreements and so on towards something in which everything was codified, safetyism became rampant, etc.
In the UK over the past few years I went from going into a nice office in a number of beautiful old buildings, getting my stuff done with cameraderie, having lunch together and playing board games, having a laugh in the board room, perhaps a pub visit after work - to sitting alone at home for 8 hours staring at a screen.
So I quit. My productivity - gone. And I fear it's never coming back unless that environment comes back; because I can't effectively function at a "job" with zero human interaction for an entire day, I've had to replace traditional work with other activities.
But is it just me? My friends in retail and other low skill jobs - half the workforce seems to have disappeared so they're all being asked to do far more than is realistically possible. My friends who are in education - the entire job changed, no more giggling and laughing children, you were playing a video game with half the class absent. Perhaps they're back now - but they're dysfunctional because their development was neglected for years. My friends who are in law - the entire job changed, no more travel, no dressing up, sit at home with a screen. My friends who are in medicine - christ, let's not even go there, eh?
I can't speak for those people. But I know that I need a reset, because this "new world" is one I'm just not built for.
Re: U.S. workers have gotten less productive – no one is sure why
#28My guess is Covid. I don’t know about anyone else but I was so burned out focusing on work isn’t a priority.
It’s going to take a year or more before people feel like they’ve recovered.
Re: U.S. workers have gotten less productive – no one is sure why
#29Perhaps people have had to expend more energy just keeping their personal life together in the last few years. People with children have had to deal with the constant school closings, childcare facility closings, etc. and that has taken its toll. They may have family members who got Covid or had treatment for other ailments delayed by the pandemic's rush to treat Covid patients. They could've experienced a huge shift…
Lets not discount the people who populate the reddit/r/antiwork forum. Noting like wasting oxygen the rest of the world needs.
Re: U.S. workers have gotten less productive – no one is sure why
#30It’s the phones. Our attention spans and ability to focus have been destroyed by constant little hits of dopamine.
This! All of the companies kept shortening their dopamine cycle to compete with each other and now people can’t focus in real life for more than 5-10 seconds before they are mentally searching for the scroll button to find a new interaction.