All those e-mails, text messages and cellphone calls appear to
be cutting productivity in the workplace. A study commissioned
by Hewlett-Packard found that e-mails, text messages and
cellphone call interruptions lead to a loss of concentration and
problem-solving skills. That steady inflow of messages can be
disruptive to employees' normal work. "People who are multi-
tasking...there's actually a larger drain on what they're doing
in the office, and it's costing companies money," says Ashley
Nelson, who teaches management communications at Tulane's
Freeman School of Business. "I think the impact on the current
economy in this country is about 600 billion dollars a year on
lost productivity," says Nelson. She says, no matter how much we
brag about our ability to multi-task, our brains are really
wired to handle just one task at a time. Switching back and
forth just gets in the way. "As we add more little gadgets of
technology, folded into our everyday usage, we're not as
productive as we thought we were." "The