Want to Brainstorm New Ideas? Then Limit Your Online Connections; New York Times, 7/4/14

Steve Lohr, New York Times; Want to Brainstorm New Ideas? Then Limit Your Online Connections:

"Clustering reduced the diversity of ideas.

The research paper, said Jesse Shore, a co-author and assistant professor at the Boston University School of Management, contributes to “the growing awareness that being connected all the time has costs. And we put a number to it, in an experimental setting.”

The research, of course, also showed where the connection paid off — finding information, the vital first step in decision making. “There are huge, huge benefits to information sharing,” said Ethan Bernstein, a co-author and assistant professor at the Harvard Business School. “But the costs are harder to measure.”

The virtues and drawbacks of connectedness, Mr. Bernstein added, vary according to the context. “It depends on whether the task is information sharing or information interpretation,” he said.

The research was just one experiment in a lab, but it does point to the larger subject of striking a balance between connectedness and isolation in the digital age.

“The connection facilitates the search and discovery process,” said David Lazer, a co-author and professor of political science and computer science at Northeastern University. “Then, you need isolation for most creative thinking.""