It has most likely happened to all of us — we’re working on something, and we hear the ding of a new email or instant message. We immediately stop what we’re doing to check and respond to the new message.
But Cal Newport says that is not an ideal way to work. In fact, he says it’s a productivity disaster, among other problems.
Newport is an associate professor of computer science at Georgetown University, and is the author of the book, "A World Without Email: Reimagining Work in a World of Communication Overload."
The Show spoke with him and asked about the title of his book — "A World Without Email" — because for a lot of people, that idea is probably both tantalizing and, at the same time, terrifying.