In an online column on FastCompany.com called "Innovation Station," Richard Watson writes about the phenomenon of people disengaging from their lives because they are too connected to their emails, text messages, and voice messages. Here is an excerpt:

…Ten or fifteen years ago people didn’t take calls in the middle of meetings. Today it’s commonplace. I was in a meeting last year with News Corp when someone from their ad agency took a call and the rest of the room was put on hold for almost ten minutes until the call had ended. You can see this teleportation process in operation in countless restaurants too where couples are talking to each one minute and then divert to receiving phone calls or checking emails the next. …

In short, we are becoming so tethered to our electronic devices that we never entirely switch off and escape from the presence of others. Now this may be a very good thing in terms of the development of individual identity, because we are constantly connected to other people, but I wonder what it’s doing to the quality of our thinking.

…Our connectedness to others through digital networks means that a culture of rapid response has developed in which the speed of our response is sometimes considered more important than its substance. We shoot off email mails that are half thought out and long-term strategic thinking is constrained by a lack of proper thinking time. We are always responding to what’s urgent rather than what’s important. I could have probably put all that together a lot better but I’m pushed for time and really can’t be bothered.

The complete article, titled "Have I Got Your Full and Undivided Attention," is here.

Watson makes a good case that this phenomenon, which thought leader Linda Stone calls Constant Partial Attention, reduces our ability to be human: to relate to people, be alone, reflect, and really think. We are communicating so much online, we are ceasing to communicate live.

In addition to the personal consequences (which are probably profound enough), what does Constant Partial Attention do to the quality of our work, as shown by the success of our projects? Are we losing our ability to think strategically, complete a task competently, or communicate thoughtfully…even while the new communications infrastructures enable us to collaborate in ways we barely dreamed about a decade or two ago?