Does Talking To Your Coworkers Make You Dumber?

The answer is YES!

A recent study from Pittsburgh's Carnegie Mellon University shows that each time a coworker talks to you and distracts you, you immediately become 20% stupider.  Now of course it's not permanent or you'd be a slobbering pile of pudding by now. But the science proves that as long as you're distracted, you're dumber.

A different study found that average office workers only get 11 minutes of work done between distractions, and it can take almost a half hour to get fully focused again after you were distracted.

According to the numbers, you may never be able to return to full productivity. At least... I think that's the math. (Wow, I'm at least 20% dumber right now.)

That being said, the research team at Carnegie Mellon found a solution to work-stopping stupidity.  The best defense is to tell yourself you will absolutely be interrupted at any moment.  That will actually help you focus and improves your productivity.

So what are you doing this weekend?