注意，“数字原生代”即将步入职场

    能同时回应多项不同的刺激，这种能力被称为“持续性部分注意力”（continuous partial attention）。这个词是1997年由皮尤互联网与美国生活项目（Pew Internet and American Life Project）的顾问琳达•斯通创造的。她注意到有认知心理学文献提到复杂的多任务处理或在具有脑力挑战的任务间切换。但她在年轻人身上看到的情形并非如此，：他们不是从一件事切换到另一件事；事实上，他们是持续地同时关注很多事情。

    斯通指出，“持续性部分注意力”有其弊端，包括有研究显示，随着刺激数量增加，关注质量会出现下降。但也可以从另一个角度来看待这种变化，即公司可以使其为我所用。

    “持续性部分注意力”与其他集中注意力的方式并不矛盾。换言之，仅仅因为孩子们既能进行论文研究，同时又和朋友聊天，还能收看喜欢的电视节目，并不意味着这是他们能集中注意力的唯一方式。孩子们还是能认认真真地参加测验、搭建机器人，他们确实能做到。事实上，“持续性部分注意力”是他们集中注意力的方式之一，佩斯科维茨表示，而且可能是很有用的一种方式。

    企业需要接受这一点：年轻人可以根据手头任务性质，选择不同的集中注意力方式。“ 我认为，这有助于年轻人焕发工作激情，并相信自己有能力辨别何时需要集中注意力。这意味着持续性部分注意力不仅是可接受的，而且就徜徉媒体世界而言，可能还是最佳的方式。”

    未来的企业无需事事调整、适应习惯即时回报的“数字原生代”，也不用牺牲长期目标而将工作任务“游戏化”。但企业必须考虑一点，未来五年、十年、十五年将步入职场的新新人类不仅有着不同的知识技能，也有全新的大脑特征。关键在于企业能不能创建一个良好的环境，让这些仍在成长的脑细胞能够继续得到发展。

    译者：老榆木

    That ability to respond to several different stimuli at the same time is called "continuous partial attention." The term was coined in 1997 by writer, consultant, and advisor for the Pew Internet and American Life Project Linda Stone. She noticed that literature on cognitive psychology referred to complex multi-tasking, or switching between mentally challenging tasks. But that wasn't what she was seeing young people do -- they weren't switching from one thing to the next; they were actually continuously semi-focused on many things at once.

    There are downsides to the continuous partial attention state, Stone says, one being that research suggests that the quality of focus drops with the added number of stimuli. But there's another way of looking at this shift, and it's one that companies could use to their benefit.

    Continuous partial attention doesn't override the other ways that people use to concentrate. In other words, just because kids can simultaneously chat with their friends, do research for a paper, and watch their favorite television show doesn't mean that is the only way they will choose to focus. Kids can still buckle down to take a test or build a robot, and they do. Instead, continuous partial attention is one approach in their tool belt, says Pescovitz, and it can be useful.

    Businesses need to accept that young people will choose different ways of paying attention based on the task at hand. "I think it's about empowering young people to follow their passion and also having some faith and confidence that they can identify when to focus. It's about accepting that continuous partial attention is not only okay, but maybe the best approach to navigating a certain media-scape at the moment."

    The future of business will not be about switching everything to cater to an instant-gratification generation. And it will not be about "gamifying" work tasks at the expense of long-term rewards. But companies and organizations will have to take into account that employees entering the job market over the next five, 10, 15 years don't just have different set of skills, but also a new neural toolkit. The trick will be to come up with a way for corporations to create an environment where those still-maturing brain cells can continue to grow.