Ambient Interruption

We are living in an age of ambient interruption.  Gone are the days when we flipped through channels while Ads interrupted our programming.  Broadband, wireless and file sharing killed the radio star and all our media is served to us on a "need it now" basis.  We think we need it?  We go out and get it.  We've been liberated to ignore the assault on our senses telling us to buy, asking us to try and selling the myth of brand.

So it's ironic that the new form interruption now comes from our peers.  It's pervasive, subtle and ambient—it surrounds us at all times and manifests itself in various forms of technologies and devices.  Another point of irony is the notion of permission marketing.  Yes, it worked for a while—in fact we gave permission to brands and friends to engage us in what we thought were meaningful relationships.  Permission marketing was born and thrived—and still does.

But look at how we behave in our daily routines.  Step out of your body and watch yourself over your own shoulder as you work your computer, and check in with your smart phone.  We've given our friends and favorite brands permission to "interrupt" us, through e-mail, text, IM, social networks—you name it. 

It's not a bad thing.  Actually, it's quite empowering.

But you have to wonder if it's become another form of interruption.  It's ambient interruption—we can actively pay attention, or ignore it.   

Or can we?

What happens when we reach critical mass for the volume of ambient interruption that we can handle?  For each of us, it's different.  We cope in different ways and use various techniques to filter.  In the end, it's up to us to manage as our personal media environments continue to evolve.  Sometimes I wonder if we'll become cynical about it—just like we did with the original interruption model.  Guess we'll find out.

Comments

[Juan Pablo Tapia]

Hi David!
Maybe it's time to try some words about it. Intrusion mktg? Uninvited mktg? Is there a chance that suddenly we all became disrespectful?

[Rachel Keslensky]

I wonder what counts as 'ambiance'.

For a recent example, it snowed Wednesday. This did not register in my brain until Forecastfox (a little weather widget in Firefox) reported that it was currently snowing.

Mozilla has made ambient interruptions - a little box in the corner mentioning a small snippet of info, that goes away just as fast as it arrives - a beautiful thing. Instant messenger has had to be whipped into submission, but it's getting there too. Ambient to me does not mean "I have to think about responding to it", but that what information it gives me is a nice "Oh, by the way, you may want to look outside."

[Steve Portigal]

FWIW, there's some stuff in this long and excellent Clive Thompson article from the NYT magazine about some research on work and efficiency and interruptions and timing.

[Steve Portigal]

Hmm - links don't get included in comments?
"http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/16/magazine/16guru.html?ex=1287115200&en=c8985a80d74cefc1&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all"

[David Blanar]

So are you suggesting marketing is now like the Force? It surrounds us, and penetrates us and binds the universe together?

[Joseph Jaffe]

Armano,

You're onto something here my friend. I'm not sure I'd call it Ambient Interruption, but I totally understand where you're coming from and where you're heading.

@juan pablo tapia - I wonder what it would be called in a marketing world....

....certainly when you put the overview of Facebook on top of this - Beacon and Bacn, you have wholehearted support for this new kind of interruption.

Good stuff.

[Graham Hill]

David

Insightful as ever.

If you think it is bad now. Just wait until it all goes mobile. The most personal of devices. Which has already overtaken the PC as the first choice for accessing the Internet. Ambient interruption will take on an entirely new meaning!

The key seems to be some form of engagement marketing. I don't mean the better marketing mousetrap version of engagement invented by the ARF ("Engagement is turning on a prospect to a brand idea enhanced by the surrounding context."). They still don't get it do they. Rather, the better shared experience version created by mobile marketing expert Alan Moore of SMLXL (see http://smlxtralarge.com/docs/pdfs/the_little_book.pdf for more details).

As the always-on:always-available culture takes hold, we had better hope that it is Alan Moore's vision of engagement marketing that becomes the dominant logic.

Graham Hill
Independent CRM Consultant
Interim CRM Manager

[Mark McGuinness]

The shiny new technology is very exciting but we're having to learn how and when to switch off.

Over the last few months I've been deliberately keeping the laptop switched off most evenings, so that there's some regular digital-free time every day. I'm tempted to try Twitter, partly because of the enthusiasm shown by you and others I respect, but I'm a bit concerned about carrying the interruptions around with me on the mobile. That's why I've avoided Blackberries like the plague.

Ironically, those of us who are most into this kind of technology are among the people most in need of focused, interruption-free time for creative work.

I wrote a couple of posts for Business of Design Online about the interruptions/focus issue:

http://www.businessofdesignonline.com/time-management-why-you-need-to-be-organised-to-be-creative/

http://www.businessofdesignonline.com/time-management-ring-fence/

[Chip Humitz]

Is this just the beginning of the "clutter", that made traditional marketing media so evil, creeping into the consumer-controlled social media world? Could it be that our trusted friends and peers, if not controlled, are as bad for us as old school marketers?

[Lewis Green]

David,

Currently, solutions exist: exit from Twitter, don't engage in IM, and don't use e-mail for chatting are just a few ways to control interruptions. We can also manage what we receive from the social media sites. If we choose to adapt every new technology and don't control them to eliminate interruptions, can we reasonably call these messages interruptions?

We are in control of what we pay attention to and even of what we receive. And the best control of all is to limit the gadgets (tools) we use.

[DA]

Thanks everyone. In an effort to manage my own "ambient interruptions" this weekend, I'm lust popping inf for a quick one and will come back later. Consider this: I used Brian Eno's POV on Ambient music as the backgdrop for this idea. Or at least this portion of it (From Wikipedia)

"The term "ambient music" was first coined by Brian Eno in the mid-1970s to refer to music that can be either "actively listened to with attention or as easily ignored, depending on the choice of the listener"

The point is in relation to this quote, sometimes ambient isn't so easy to ignore. All depends on the individual.

[Valeria Maltoni]

Very familiar with Eno and his body of work, that's what got my attention to click through this post ;-)

I think permission is still valid. the way I see it, permission is not asked, it's deemed implicit... that's where the disconnect is. A case in pint, I'm the curator of a network of 500+ people. Every person who signs up received a personal welcome note from me. Then almost everyone ignores the personal note and signs me up for *their* newsletter. Where was the permission? My welcome note?

[SEO Brisbane]

I think it's a case of permission interruption rather than ambient interruption. We give our friends permission to interrupt us.