Multi-tasking? You're not as sharp as you think.
Our friend Jake has warned us that although you may think you're good at multi-tasking, you really aren't. And science is now backing him up on that.
What they're saying makes a lot of sense. But man, doing several things at once -- particularly when the computer is involved -- is going to be a hard habit to break.
| Posted at 3:16 AM | Permalink |
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Comments (4)
Thanks Jack. Wonderful to have scientific research backing me up on not listening to my wife!
Posted by Grady Foster | September 2, 2009 5:57 AM
I agree. And I think most folks mistake "switching back and forth between tasks" for "doing multiple tasks at once". So, I don't think anybody actually "multitasks". It's a myth.
Instead, we race back and forth like a dog between two bones, and the quality of everything tends to suffer.
Yet it's so common to see it everywhere--job descriptions, goal lists, etc. It's one of those things that nobody seems to be able to define, yet holds up as an ideal. How unbelievably silly.
Posted by ecohuman | September 2, 2009 9:07 AM
The habit of "multitasking" could also be called clinical ADD, or "attention deficit disorder".
Posted by al m | September 2, 2009 10:10 AM
"Sure...I can drive and talk on the phone, because I'm capable of safely multitaAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!"
Posted by godfry | September 2, 2009 5:11 PM