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29 Comments
- skipvt, on 08/25/2009, -0/+10I think they designed the test to skew the results. How about testing someone's multitasking skills? And I'm sorry, doing homework and watching TV is not multitasking, that's being distracted. Same with checking your e-mail every five minutes, I bet the topics of e-mails checked that often is not work related.
I'm going to have to call shenanigans. - bigp3rm, on 08/25/2009, -0/+8So this is what is happening to me.
- mrfuzz, on 08/24/2009, -0/+8I know this feeling. Muddled, yes. Not pleasant.
- AmyVernon, on 08/24/2009, -0/+8That's me.
- Lunarsight, on 08/25/2009, -0/+6Sadly, most workplaces nowadays put you in a position where you have little choice but to multitask.
When you have x number of people available to work, and the amount of things that need to be done at any given point is x times 5, you either multitask, or you fall behind. - janjamm, on 08/24/2009, -0/+5It's that fractured feeling.
- phosphite, on 08/25/2009, -0/+4It's proven that task-switching leads to waste (reading Implementing Lean Software Development by Mary&Tom Poppendieck). The brain takes time to regain focus. I watch it around me every day. The Japanese (Toyota at least) have this figured out, it's why they're very efficient, but this knowledge is slowly spreading.
- Piha, on 08/25/2009, -0/+421st century life generally I think. As one of the comments sorta mentioned: we've got so much information but haven't given much thought to what's important. And that's not just computer/electronic-media stuff, there's other protocols and concepts that are very important to life in this era. All kinds of crazy abstract things are important to some of us, things like bank accounts, global warming, money, social issues, friends, insurance, community, religion, sports, digg etc...
It's probably quite natural to try and 'filter' stuff to some degree.
Maybe it's not a case of the brain coping poorly under the info-load, but instead about the brain adapting and coping fairly well. - bizchris, on 08/25/2009, -0/+4"'We wanted to ask a different question,' said Clifford Nass, a Stanford University cognitive scientist. 'What happens to people who multitasking all the time?”"
Well, their skills as an editor drop, apparently... - cjr71244, on 08/25/2009, -0/+4I believe this is probably true but I don't want to admit it, I can't pay attention to movies anymore
- sarcasm, on 08/25/2009, -0/+3I hope the author accidentally the whole quote.
- Mican, on 08/25/2009, -0/+3but when I focus on something I get an itch -- an urge -- to focus on something else. it's mentally taxing on the brain to focus after all, although I'm guessing this is something that can be trained.
- bratterscain, on 08/25/2009, -0/+2I'm a natural scatterbrain, I also find coffee helps me focus. Viva la java!
- robcornelius, on 08/25/2009, -0/+2It is possible to multitask very effectivley with training. A friend is a fighter pilot in the RAF. He has to fly the plane at near the speed of sound pretty damn close to the ground over hilly terrain. In addition he has to monitor the HUD for information and various in cockpit displays and hold a conversation with the co-pilot in one ear and the air controller in the other ear. He says once you get the hang of it that its easy...
- ciram, on 08/25/2009, -0/+2“What happens to people who multitasking all the time?”
- aronnyc, on 08/26/2009, -0/+2Dammit, I multitask all the time. What'll I do next time I ever have to stare at triangles and descramble random words???
- azurite, on 08/25/2009, -0/+2It is by will alone I set my mind in motion.
It is by the juice of sapho that thoughts acquire speed,
the lips acquire stains,
the stains become a warning.
It is by will alone I set my mind in motion - phosphite, on 08/25/2009, -0/+2This is why I'm here now replying to your comment while I'm working. :) The trick is removing needless task switching as must as possible.
- enantiodromia, on 08/25/2009, -1/+3Agreed.
This is why coffee was invented tho. :) - thegododeath, on 08/25/2009, -1/+2I've always found it better to give one thing 500% concentration rather than spreading it out. I guess I do have good concentration.
- zoomaKabu, on 08/25/2009, -1/+2There is multitasking and there is multitasking well. All they proved was that people who don't multitask well do better when given only a single task to perform. What they should have done is:
Identify a group who multitask well. [Group A]
Identify a group who perform best at single tasks. [Group B]
Give them a complex set of interrelated tasks to perform and see who gets done first. - cjr71244, on 08/26/2009, -0/+1good idea take the edge off as they say
- ShadyCroquet, on 08/26/2009, -0/+1It's more than a feeling!
More that a feeling! - Technopundit, on 08/26/2009, -0/+1Because ice cream has no bones.
- Vivifyer, on 08/26/2009, -0/+1this is the reason why you need to have beer while watching movies.
- esser33, on 08/25/2009, -0/+0Coffee is a wonderful thing! I could not get through a day without it!
- wrek, on 08/25/2009, -2/+1I was reading about the echo-location boy when this article caught my attention.. had to chime in and tell everyone I drove to work because there might be thunderstorms today but my cell phone battery is 100% and coffee and a pop-tart for breakfast.
- martoq, on 08/25/2009, -2/+1I already get most of my news from outside the US because I don't trust US news agencies. This will only make it that much easier of a decision and probably push even more people in that direction.
- damack, on 08/25/2009, -5/+1I remember reading an article about how the brain wasn't capable of doing two things at once but was just good at switching between two things really fast.
If that is the case then wouldn't multi tasking lead to the inability to concentrate on any given task for very long?
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