Interruptions are commonplace these days. Society continues to change at a rapid pace with the advent of smartphones and everywhere connectivity.
In fact, most of us now carry our phones (and computers!) on our person at all times.
Additionally, we have given the power to almost anyone to ring us whenever and wherever we are.
Via phone call, text, IM, email, Twitter, Facebook, and more.
Sounds pretty scary, and it is.
But, what if I charged you for that interruption?
Would you be still want to interrupt me if it cost you $5?
How about $10 to ring my phone in the middle of that important appointment?
Things would get interesting.
How Much Would You Pay For My Attention?
You know how it goes. You are the middle of an important meeting. Maybe a presentation.
And your phone rings. Then you get a text message. And an urgent email.
Sure, you can put your phone on silent, but that doesn’t stop calls from interrupting. Ask anyone in a corporate meeting room that has had to talk through an endless chorus of buzzes and clicks.
It seems that there are countless methods for people to interrupt us these days.
“Should someone have the power to ring/vibrate a device that is on my person at any time they choose?”
The easy answer is to turn off those devices. Turn off the rings, dings, chimes, and vibrations.
However, most people don’t do this.
Either because they are concerned about being reachable for emergencies. Or because they want some people to be able to reach them.
Do We Need a Privacy Paywall?
The issue is that we have created an avenue for interruptions that we have very little control over.
We carry devices that allow us to be interrupted on a whim. Yet, we have very little power over interruption priority or the ability to screen these disturbances.
Worse, the burden is on the receiver to be responsible for the interruption.
What if we changed that? Reversed it, even.
What if I charged you for that interruption?
And why not? It is my time.
How much should my attention cost? That depends…
– On my current activity
– On my schedule
– On whether or not I want to talk to you
For $X, you can interrupt me.
It could be based on who you are and what I am doing right now. Of course, if it is a legitimate urgency or I want to talk to you I can simply waive the charge.
Controlling these interruptions needs to be second nature and simple. There are a few services out there that will let you filter calls and such.
However, none is as simple or quick as the rocker switch on my iPhone to go into silent mode. It needs to be that easy to set our interruptibility. By person and group.
And yes, I like the monetary part.
Should a solicitor be allowed to interrupt my romantic dinner date for free?
You Can Have My Attention for a Price
I predict there will be a push for stronger personal privacy in the near future. Probably, the day that telemarketers get ahold of all of our cell numbers. (Or Facebook changes our privacy settings, again…)
We will get frustrated with people, even friends, constantly having immediate access to us. We won’t allow others to physically buzz an electronic device on our body at any time they choose.
We need to see a shift in responsibility to the interrupter. And we need easy and simple tools that enable us to defend our privacy.
So, how much would you pay to interrupt me… right now?
What do you think? How do you control others interrupting you anytime and anywhere?
I wouldn’t pay to interrupt you. Not a dollar, not a penny.
That’s not because I don’t think you’re smart. Rather, I just don’t believe that your expertise is time-sensitive.
Would I pay to interrupt a top-notch crisis PR expert to get their attention to solve a problem? You bet. If I’m out at a restaurant, and my friend needs emergency medical attention–would I at least offer to buy the meal of any doctor who happened to be in the room? Certainly.
However, most of us do work which is important, but not urgent. We don’t need to be interrupted.
Instead, people can communicate with us when we come up for air.
@robbyslaughter Good stuff.
I intended it to mean… interrupting you.
How much are your interruptions worth?
And should people be able to reach you anywhere anytime… at their convenience?
nice concept, although I still believe it’s personal responsibilty in this case.
If you have a iphone or smartphone you should ditch it for a simple mobile phone, and all your wishes are true… people pay to call you then 😉
It’s about focus, not about interruption. Real work happens when all distractions are removed in your mind. You can’t code if you’re on the phone or you’re moving from meeting to meeting. Most work takes undivided attention to the work at hand.
I like the provocation, but in the end we still have the choice not to be interrupted.
My recipe:
1) set the phone to silence mode – not vibration
2) close your email inbox
3) check both at predetermined time windows during the day
This will educate your co-workers (in my case, over 90% of the communications I receive come from my collegues rather than customers), because they’ll realize you are usually BUSY.
This will even limit last-minute requests, because they’ll know they can’t expect you to immediately take care of their “urgent” requests.
@marcoricci I agree with your method of setting expectations. 🙂
In terms of the phone/email/etc. interruptions… I want the ability to put my phone of silent for different priorities.
In other words, silent to most, but rings through if it is my wife. 🙂
There are a few services that can accomplish this… but not with the simplicity and ease that we need on our mobile devices.
I think there is great room for innovation in this area.
Seems like a bad idea. Large corporations and call centers with deep pockets could pay to interrupt, whereas your grandmother or child who need a ride perhaps couldn’t. Is that the system you want?
Seems like a bad idea. Large corporations and call centers with deep pockets could pay to interrupt, whereas your grandmother or child who need a ride perhaps couldn’t. Is that the system you want?