The BBC News has a story titled, ‘Infomania’ worse than marijuana (April 22, 2005.) A study for Hewlett Packard claims that some are getting addicted to messaging and that this reduced intelligence. The study was led by Dr Glenn Wilson, a psychologist at the Institute of Psychiatry (IoP) at King’s College, London.
This was from Geoff T.
See the CNN.com coverage – E-mails ‘hurt IQ more than pot’ – Apr 22, 2005. Here is a quote from the CNN article,
In 80 clinical trials, Dr. Glenn Wilson, a psychiatrist at King’s College London University, monitored the IQ of workers throughout the day.
He found the IQ of those who tried to juggle messages and work fell by 10 points — the equivalent to missing a whole night’s sleep and more than double the 4-point fall seen after smoking marijuana.
“This is a very real and widespread phenomenon,” Wilson said. “We have found that this obsession with looking at messages, if unchecked, will damage a worker’s performance by reducing their mental sharpness.
“Companies should encourage a more balanced and appropriate way of working.”
Wilson said the IQ drop was even more significant in the men who took part in the tests. (CNN, “E-mails ‘hurt IQ more than pot'”, April 22, 2005.)