Disconnect, Connect, Repeat

In advertising, there is something known as engagement planning. It’s sort of a nebulous concept, but it basically is the idea of trying to reach the right consumer (C) with the right message (M) at the right time (T) using the right medium (MM).

Using the just-5-minutes-ago-invented formula C x M x T x MM, you can more or less ‘quantify’ the effectiveness of whether something is effectively engaging with the consumer. The more engaged the consumer, the theory goes, the more probability the message will stick (of course, this doesn’t mean the product will sell, but that is a story for another post in another forum).

I’ve got a good, real life example of engagement planning at its finest on my hands. Only difference is it has nothing to do with selling anything, but rather me writing about something that I've often thought about. Allow me a brief background to explain.

I’m living on a ship right now with very limited internet connectivity. I’m still connected, but not at the hyper rate I am when I’m on land. So when I read this article in the NYT "Outdoors and Out of Reach, Studying the Brain", it struck a chord not just because of the message, but because of the time and place I received it.

Let’s apply this real life scenario to the formula. I (C) read an article about disconnectivity (M) while disconnected (T) on a handheld device (MM). The enormous irony that I read this while somewhere in the middle of the Caribbean Sea only adds to the intrigue of the story - the rogue variable that doesn’t quite fit that makes the story interesting.

The article is one in a series the NYT is running about attention and the brain. Basically, a group of neuroscientists and psych professors decided to spend a few days camping, completely removed from their normal, connected lives, to study the changes in themselves as a result of the forced downtime. I strongly recommend reading the article.

Anyone who has removed themselves from the 'cloud’s' siren song and the anecdotal evidence that new information is addictive can probably relate to the article. I certainly can. I love disconnecting, whether it’s going camping for a few days or taking my dog for a walk. Who hasn’t experienced the joy of being able to focus on one thing and one thing or person only?
I hope to one day read the professors’ research, but their preliminary theories confirm a long-held belief of mine:

That to really think critically about something, you need to disconnect.

This doesn’t mean you need to escape to the wilderness of Utah to do it. However, the severity of the professors’ decision to do that does underscore the importance of removing yourself from the addictive substance that people, from advertisers to government officials, call data.

That’s why when I want to produce or analyze that stuff, I try to disconnect. Some old school people might call it ‘focusing’. In college, I would go to the bottom floor of the library, where the only other temptations were old maps and books. There weren’t windows, and were hardly ever any people. It was me, a desk, and the material I needed to put in my brain.

It wasn't as visually stunning or entertaining, but it was the same concept; I would create my own artificial Utah. Living on a ship, with all of its differences from life on land, presents a number of opportunities to create my own Utah, and I find that when I'm able to, my thoughts become more lucid and my work and analytical ability improve overall.

I guess it all boils down to the old saying “it’s not quantity, it’s quality”. Don’t tell me how many hours you worked or how many emails you sent. Instead, show me what you did in that time. Let what you've created speak for itself.

To focus all mental energies on one thing is an increasingly difficult task. But it is absolutely essential that we don’t lose it. Otherwise, our ability to create, connect, and love will suffer. I hope one day this is accepted knowledge, and the myth that hyperconnectivity and being always on call leads to better work is dispelled once and for all.

As one of the professors says, “Attention is the holy grail. Everything that you’re conscious of, everything you let in, everything you remember and you forget, depends on it.”

If I could have beer on board, I would drink to that.