The Case For Bigger Monitors

The Wall Street Journal follows up on a March 10 report on a recent study that says employees are more productive with bigger monitors.

On March 19, the WSJ says:

Last week, we wrote about a new study by researchers at the University of Utah that found people who used big computer screens – or multiple ones – completed a series of computer tasks significantly faster than people using smaller screens. (Some people mistook this for a 2003 study by the same researchers; this was an updated one.) The study was sponsored by a company that makes computer monitors, so readers had a right to be skeptical. Instead, reader after reader posted about how much more productive having a bigger monitor made them.

This comment was fairly typical:

“I actually had trouble convincing users that two monitors would make their lives easier. I found that if I promised to install a second monitor and then to come back that same afternoon and remove it if they didn’t like it I could get them to at least try a two monitor solution. I never once took the second monitor off anyone’s system. Most often, as soon as I stuck my head in the user’s office door they would threaten to kill me if I even touched their new monitor.”

There were a few naysayers. One reader asked if anyone has heard of “Alt-Tab,” the keystrokes that let people who use Microsoft’s Windows operating system toggle between two applications. Others question whether businesses would be willing to spend the money to outfit employees with an extra monitor. “If only we could afford the luxury of large monitors where I work!” one reader wrote. “Unfortunately our Director of IT is just too tight for that!” And some thought that a big monitor was nice, but pretty meaningless if it wasn’t high resolution as well.

But overall, about 80% of the comments were from people bragging about their increased productivity. (So feel free to send the thread to your boss.)

One information-technology pro pointed out the hidden value of bigger screens:

1. People can’t see me at my desk
2. I get to be more productive
3. A.D.D. folks understand `out of sight, out of mind’
4. People can’t see me at my desk
5. One screen monitors the network full time
6. Different browsers at the same time
7. People can’t see me at my desk