Last post of the night, as I’m really supposed to be working on at least three other things (one of which is a popular version of the giant contemplative computing article): another example of an article on dealing with online distraction that conflates consumption with real improvement. “6 Ways to Avoid Letting Your Computer Distract You” (Chronicle of Higher Education, probably behind the paywall) talks about how

figuring out how to free yourself from distractions so you can do your best work (pace Merlin Mann ) is something that all academics—and all writers—need to learn how to do.

However, rather than talking mainly about things people can do, it turns into a survey of “a few tools that I have found to help me tune out or turn off:” in other words, it’s about things to consume. And interestingly, the list consists of productivity tools, things that block your access to Facebook or the Internet, or help compartmentalize work from play.

So what’s wrong here? I see three fallacies.

• We can consume our way back to productivity. (“The problem isn’t that I’m not really as good as Jimmy Page, man. The crappy fretboard on my Telecaster is holding me back.”)
• Productivity is like speed on the highway, and that the way to get more of it is to find tools that are faster. Many a computer purchase has been justified this way. But it’s a bit like believing that driving a BMW 7 Series will get you through rush hour faster.
• Productivity is what happens naturally when you eliminate other things: that concentration and focus are default states to which we return in the absence of external distractions. I’m skeptical, given how good we were at distracting ourselves before the Web.