May We Have Your Attention, Please? (businessweek Online)
BusinessWeek Online - It’s official: The average knowledge worker has the attention span of a sparrow. Roughly once every three minutes, typical cubicle dwellers set aside whatever they’re doing and start something else — anything else. It could be answering the phone, checking e-mail, responding to an instant message, clicking over to YouTube (NasdaqGS:GOOG - News), or posting something amusing on Facebook. Constant interruptions are the Achilles’ heel of the information economy in the U.S. These distractions consume as much as 28% of the average U.S. …