Disruptive Technology and Innovation

So, we've been talking about changing the rules (being innovative), in order to push society to a new level. But, does new technology become disruptive to the "order of things" to a detrimental extent?  


Do we really get more done, now that we have computers and email?  Of course we do, as we can now bang out answers to emails in record time.  But, is the work of the quality it once was?  Do our computer interactions completely rid us of the personalized contact we once had, when meeting with colleagues in person or talking on the phone?  Are our interactions via email fostering the creativity that an in-person brainstorming session would?  Does our downgraded grammar and waning attention to detail, when constructing email messages, rather than mailed or faxed communication, have a negative effect on business?


I would guess that office workers utilizing computers hooked up to the internet is now upwards of 80%, however, I can't find recent stats.  The numbers jumped from 45.8% to 49.8% from 1993 to 1997, according to a U.S. census report.  (Let me know if you can find current numbers.)


But, according to study that Cisco Systems with a total of 2,000 respondents (published in 2008):

"• 78 percent of employees accessed personal email from business computers. This number is approximately double the level of authorized use.

• 63 percent of employees admit to using a work computer for personal use every day, and 83 percent admit to using a work computer for personal use at least sometimes."

So, I have to wonder if even though our productivity is supposed to be going UP, due to the advancements in technology, is it going down, due to the level of distraction it provides from actual work-oriented projects.  As well, with emails dinging into our lives every minute, wrestling our concentration away from the current task at hand, and forcing our attention to something else, how many minutes are wasted every day, every hour, trying to reformulate a train of thought?    Ferris Research stated in a study they conducted in 2005, that every interruption creates three minutes of wasted time!  

Switching time - an average 1 min and 44 seconds to react to a new email notification

Recall time - about 60 seconds to get back into the original work

I may make this one of my month-long questions - What is the downside of technology in the workplace?