I generally agree with the argument put forward here. There's been a great deal of commentary recently about the nature and effects of Internet-related multitasking, especially around social media and the ubiquity of mobile devices. But the empirical evidence is still inconclusive, and for every negative consequence (CPA etc.,) there are demonstrable benefits (collaboration, innovation, community connectivity).
Meanwhile, organisations are struggling to cope with social media usage and policies (by employees and customers alike) while also trying to address workplace productivity. What is missing in the debate is some constructive dialogue around how to use the technology more effectively and to our advantage - in crude terms, to manage it, not be be managed by it.
If we really need to "switch off", while maintaining productivity and engagement, there needs to be some better solutions and support to help people find opportunities to take "brain breaks" or to find renewal through constructive downtime.

My experience of group meetings is that they are 90% useless, so if 50% of the attendees spend 80% of their time there doing something else instead, that represents a net gain of -- wait, hang on while I look up Google Calc...

"Are we becoming internet addicts?" Only as long as the electricity holds out, though I'm less fussed with internet addicts than with internet dicks.

Still, it's not all necessarily bad:

"Linked to this attention deficit problem is the social challenge of Absent Presence. This is where you have, say, ten people sitting around a table, only to find that just five of whom are really 'present'. The others are mentally or emotionally out-to-lunch..."

This could be viewed as a life-long rehearsal for when - with increasing longevity - we are 'sat' in the lounge of our nursing home, but too frail to escape.

"...what psychologists have labeled Constant Partial Attention" is all too true and is increasingly common the younger the person using the mobile device.

Multi-tasking seems not at risk since it appears more people are simultaneously 'multi-platform' cognisant ... oh look, a cat playing the piano!

It is those mobile devices, & multi tasking that worries me.

Two of my female kids in particular. One is a good driver, except for the fact she never has that infernal phone thing out of her hands. It is unfortunately, only a matter of time I believe.

I have idly wondered what she does with that phone, while in the passion of sex. I am inclined to believe she is probably texting some face book mate, telling her how good it is perhaps, they must share everything else it appears.

The other says I scare her when I'm driving. I made a study of our driving habits.

Coming into a local T intersection, I have checked right & left, gone back 2 gears, & am accelerating through the thing, while she is still rolling to a halt, before looking anywhere.

Despite this lack of multitasking ability, she still appears confident in her ability to dial phone numbers, & probably text while traveling at 100Km/H, down our none too wide country back roads.

Sorry, no, I am not prepared to say anything to them, I'll just bitch here, instead..

Since the advent of the android phones with their touch screens people get even more engrossed when texting. It was nothing short of amazing how fast & without looking some could text with the earlier key pad phones. The touch screen has certainly slowed them & the texting down but with the added concern that they need to actually look at the screen.
I have a young feller who literally is incapable of working with both hands as he constantly texts his girlfriend who is no more than 300 metres away.
As for myself I'm pretty hooked on this forum. I think being on the computer is so much more entertaining than TV as there are no commercial breaks although some ads are very annoying.

'oh look, a cat playing the piano!'

hehe. You're my fave trev. But you already know that.

Being as it were as addiction is in the soul, and takes many forms, WTF is wrong with someone who gets addicted to the interwebs. Coke, congrats! Sex, why not. Gambling, you're a fool sure, heroin, so passe.

But the interwebs? really?

When someone gets addicted to memes, or friendface, well, put.them.down.

Rebound attempt or slops? "You're my fave trev."

I take it you tanked on ChristianMingle...

Mal Fletcher asks "Are we becoming Internet addicts?" (11 January 2013). I have been using the Internet almost every day since 1994, so I guess that makes me an addict: http://www.tomw.net.au/nt ;-)

The suggestion that university students studies are suffering because they are less able to follow lectures seems to miss the point. Universities now use more interactive and on-line teaching methods, not because the students ability to concentrate has decline, but because conventional lectures were never a good teaching method. Conventional wisdom was that a student took in about 15 minutes of an hour long lecture. The lectures were an hour long simply for logistical reasons. So now live lecture are made more interactive, with discussion and exercises, or replaced with shorted recorded material on-line and with interactive exercises. An example is my ICT Sustainability course: http://www.tomw.net.au/technology/it/green_computing_professional/

Disclosure Statement:

I am not 'Bob'. (signed) WmTrevor.

"'US software engineer outsources his job to China'
(AFP) – 2 hours ago
SAN FRANCISCO — "Bob" the software engineer was becoming a modern workplace legend on Thursday as word spread that he had secretly outsourced his own job to China and sat at his desk watching cat videos.

The tale of Bob blazed across the Internet after being told in a Verizon security team blog post about the most "memorable" case investigators handled last year."