'Skyful of lies' — connection v distraction in an 'always on' world

"In Burma in September 2007, during the surge of pro-democracy protests, the military junta described the images being sent out around the world by its citizens as a 'skyful of lies,'" wrote Stefan Stern in his excellent May 11, 2009 Financial Times column.

Excerpts follow.

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Around a quarter of the 1,200 professionals surveyed spend three or more hours a day on their e-mails and sending text messages. More than half the younger and middle-aged respondents never turn their phones off at all.

Three quarters of younger workers admit to being addicted to technology. Alcohol, tobacco, shopping: none of these temptations matches the appeal of fancy new gadgets and high-tech kit.

There is a paradox at the heart of this exciting world of new technology. We crave flexibility, connectivity, and speed. But we risk turning ourselves into busy fools, bamboozled by too much noise and information.

How should we cope with this excessive flow of information? “You have to distinguish between being more connected, which is potentially very valuable, and just being more distracted, which isn’t,” says Alastair Dryburgh, who runs the Akenhurst management consultancy in London.

Information now travels around the world so fast and in such quantities, he [British journalist Nik Gowing] reports,* that all kinds of organisations – governments, businesses – are struggling to respond fast enough or effectively enough.

“As a result, there is a new vulnerability, fragility and brittleness of power which weakens both the credibility and accountability of governments, the security organs and corporate institutions,” he writes – adding that this often occurs at the height of a crisis....

No matter that the information – noise – which is being spread may be inaccurate, or only partly true. Leaders have to respond, and faster than used to be necessary. “The new core challenge is the tyranny of the time line,” Mr Gowing says.

What advice does he offer leaders in these changed circumstances? “From top to bottom retrain or remove the courtiers who ratchet up old means of control and like behaviour that masks the truth,” he says.

*“Skyful of lies” and Black Swans: the new tyranny of shifting information power in crises [free!], by Nik Gowing, Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, Oxford.