This isn’t just a productivity or focus issue. Mark’s lab has found that the more people switch their attention, the higher their stress level. That is especially concerning, she says, because the modern workplace feeds on interruptions. Dubbing the group of workers most affected “information workers,” she said this population “might have every intention of doing monochronic (concentrated) work, but if their boss sends them an e-mail or they feel social pressure to keep up with their e-mails, they have to keep responding to their e-mails and being interrupted.”
