Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World · chapter 2 · id deep-work-c2-02-the-average-knowledge-worker-c
“The average knowledge worker checks email once every six minutes. The McKinsey Global Institute found that the average knowledge worker spends more than 60 percent of the workweek engaged in electronic communication and Internet searching.”
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McKinsey Global Institute: The Social Economy (July 2012)check errored · retry queued
The average interaction worker spends an estimated 28 percent of the workweek managing e-mail and nearly 20 percent looking for internal information or tracking down colleagues who can help with specific tasks.
Martin White: 'Time Spent Searching' -- A Chronology of the Mythsource alive
The 'workers spend X% of time searching' statistics have been recycled and inflated across decades of reports without rigorous methodology. The original figures are estimates, not measurements.
This claim is a stable, citable object. If you can falsify a verdict, tell us. Corrections are loud here.