IQ damaged by - wait, I have to check my email
If you didn’t see this already, there was a research study recently released that indicates email damages IQ more than marijuana.
It seems the constant interruptions to which we subject ourselves (email, cellphones, text messages, etc.) interfere with our ability to concentrate. While this is one of those “well, duh” kind of statements, the severity of the impact was pretty startling. The total effect over the course of a workday compulsively reading and answering email was an average of 10 IQ points for the 80 participants in the study.
Even knowing that, how many people will choose to limit their use of email? And one more reason to limit using email with students, especially with one-to-one computing efforts.