AndrewKoch.com

Productivity

Meet the Life Hackers - New York Times

The researchers took 15 volunteers, sat each one in front of a regular-size 15-inch monitor and had them complete a variety of tasks designed to challenge their powers of concentration - like a Web search, some cutting and pasting and memorizing a seven-digit phone number. Then the volunteers repeated these same tasks, this time using a computer with a massive 42-inch screen, as big as a plasma TV.

The results? On the bigger screen, people completed the tasks at least 10 percent more quickly - and some as much as 44 percent more quickly. They were also more likely to remember the seven-digit number, which showed that the multitasking was clearly less taxing on their brains.

Everyone here at TheLadders has two screens, except for the designers who have Macs. They just have one massive screen each. I'm now so spoiled by having a decent amount of screen real estate -- I can barely get anything done when I use my laptop at home.

I'd like to think that the amount of work we're able to accomplish with our multiple screens has helped us build a better job search engine and will keep people coming back to TheLadders the next time they need a Job.