The Boredom Factor

I mess around on my cell phone.  A lot.  I’ve never been diagnosed with any kind of concentration disorder (ADD, ADHD or the like), but I always feel at least a bit distracted, and as a result, I often fidget by checking something on my phone.

So it’s not a bit surprising that when I’m in a meeting that has become tedious, or when I’m not directly involved, I mess around with my phone.  Sometimes I check the weather, or search for something that has just come into my mind tangentially related to the discussion.  And I don’t necessarily think this is a bad thing.

Other people have their own meeting coping mechanisms for dealing with tedium.  They daydream, twirl their pens, doodle, think about going home, think about next tasks or a meeting they have to prepare for themselves.  I think before I had something so easy to distract me, I did all things during meetings.

I actually used to get so bored in meetings I defined a metric that I call The Boredom Factor.  It’s defined as 

Where t = time elapsed before checking the clock for the first time and T is the total scheduled meeting time.

The closer the number is to 100, the more boring the meeting.  Say, for example, I look at my watch 10 minutes into an hour-long meeting (1-10/60)*100 = 83.  Pretty boring.  Contrast to looking at my watch 25 minutes into a half hour meeting (1-25/30)*100 = 17.  Not really that boring.

That’s right, I was so bored I invented a boredom metric.

So first things first.  I actually think I pay more attention with my phone out and on than if I were daydreaming.  With the phone taking up the “bored” part of my mind, it’s keeping me acutely there and in the room.  I’m not devoting 100% of my attention to the meeting topic, but I’m no longer ignoring it outright by daydreaming.  50% there is still better than 0%.  But still not the same as involving me and getting 100% of my time.  Oftentimes the distraction makes me feel more energetic and willing to contribute.

Realistically and practically, however, if I’m not 100% engaged in the discussion, then I’m being pulled out of it.

That is, if I’m in a meeting you’re running, and I’m on my phone, you can criticize me for being rude all you want, but the truth is that you are not engaging everyone in the room fully.  Consider turning the critical eye inward to see what might be keeping people from being engaged.  One of the following be the problem:

• The meeting may not be focused enough – too many topics that not everyone is interested in. Are you just filling time?
• The meeting has too many people – you may not need my participation the whole time. Could this meeting have been several quick short hallway conversations?
• The meeting time slot is too long – you may be just filling up time when you could have made the whole process tighter. Are people showing up late? Are you prolonging the meeting because you have another stacked up afterwards and don't want to go back to your desk.
• You didn't come with an agenda or a set of goals – I may not know where you’re trying to get to, so I’m biding my time until I hear that you’re finally on a track. Can you prepare better next time? 
• People may be exhausted from too many meetings – meeting fatigue is real, and eventually people need a break. Too many mid-level managers do nothing but go to meetings all day every day. Are you contributing or creating that kind of culture?

Finally, I will leave you with the idea that respect is similar to attention, in that you need to earn it from folks.  If you are not getting mine, you should consider the possibility that you are not earning it.