Slack Isn’t the Problem. We Are
There is no inherent problem with Slack. It’s the way we use it.
It was about time, I started seeing people describe their frustrations of actively using Slack. I have been half-expecting it for about a few months now. Let me start with a background story, you probably know:
Business has been desperately trying to kick email out for ages, marking it as inefficient, overly ceremonious, clutter inducing, and hard to follow up. Recently, a few companies have appeared, dusting old IRC off, giving it a modern look and an enterprisey spin, and business suddenly fell in love with the idea. Initially, everyone seemed happy — less of email’s verbosity, and more targeted P2P messaging — just the perfect set of ingredients for a productive day. Yet, as I assumed, as conversations began piling up, frustration started to escalate equally. Frustration, caused by being in the loop 24/7, participating in an ever-present, chatter roulette that seems to have no end. Frustration, exacerbated by an incessant stream of updates and notifications, dividing one’s day into bits of half-baked productive activities, followed by responding to the source of interruptions.
I am getting all of those concerns. I used to be in that situation too, blaming myself for not getting much done in days, besides participating in this never-ending chatter. Yet, none of what I just wrote, has to do with the tools themselves, as much as it does with our way of using them. We have come to a point in our development, in which 24/7 availability is perceived as normal and expected behavior. Yet, to blame it on the tools we use, is like blaming it on the hammer for accidentally hitting your finger while trying to hang a picture. Indeed, the tools we use, have certainly made it easier for us to reach this point, but ultimately, it is us who pulled the trigger, not the tools.
Why Do We Do It?
Fear of missing out, and feeling less relevant, mostly.
Modern-day’s idea of work has given us a greater sense of autonomy over what we do, and diminished the relevance of where and when we do it. This is generally a good thing, but it has inevitably melted the barrier between work and private life. Much like how a CPU works, for many, weekdays have become a series of mini events, and isles of productive activities, separated by numerous interruptions and requests for task switching.
On the surface, it seems like we do more and various things, but the reality is that our coverage on any of them is less than superficial. When the brain doesn’t have enough time to focus one’s attention on a particular problem, it takes a guess and marks the problem as “urgent”. This is perception working at its worst: what evolution once developed as a defense mechanism against Nature’s dangers, has turned against the very thing it was designed to protect — us.
In the long term, our minds start to lose the grip on what we are supposed to work on. When the relevance is lost, the brain starts compensating by increasing the number of parallel tasks we’re in control of even further. Combine this with the fear of being constantly judged, by how much better your peers are doing with their lives (see my notes on handling impostor syndrome). No wonder then, why so many of the so-called millennials are experiencing sings of burnout.
What Do You Suggest We Do?
I wish, I knew the answer to this question. I can neither forbid you from using the tools you love and work with, nor will I encourage you to use them more. Generally, my point is that tools are not the problem. Most of them already come provisioned with ways to mute notifications for a certain period of time, or indicating that you are busy. Their makers, among which, teams like the one behind Slack, are interested to hear your feedback (and your frustrations for that matter), so I am generally certain that what can be solved technologically, will be made.
Yet, until tools start teaching us out of our self-destryoing habits, we will have to deal with the problem alone. Learn to use tools’ powers wisely, and to your advantage. Just so you know, muting that noisy Slack channel, or even shutting Slack down for a few hours, helps a great deal. As engaging as conversations might seem, for the most part, you won’t lose much. As for the rest, well, there is always email 😉
