The cursor blinks against the dark background of the code editor, a steady, patient heartbeat. Then, the flash in the corner of the screen. The little red notification dot on the Slack icon. You know before you even click. It’s a Pavlovian dread refined over 1,001 such interruptions.

There it is. The five most expensive words in the modern workplace. You feel your shoulders tighten just a fraction. The intricate web of logic you’ve been weaving for the last 41 minutes begins to fray. The state of deep focus, so difficult to achieve and so fragile to maintain, evaporates like mist. You type back ‘sure,’ close the editor, and click the Zoom link, watching your own face stare back at you while you wait for the person who summoned you.

The Hidden Cost of “Quick Ones”

The call itself lasts 11 minutes. The problem is resolved in the first 2 minutes. The other 9 minutes are filled with the conversational static required to politely enter and exit a synchronous interaction. You hang up. Silence. You open the code editor again. The cursor is still blinking, but the world it represents is gone. The connections are lost. It will take you another 31 minutes, maybe 51,