Multitasking can be beneficial or just a waste of time. In “How (and Why) to Stop Multitasking Peter Bregman and “In Defense of Multitasking” David Silverman, both bloggers explain their points of view on multitasking. Bregman explains the reasons why multitasking is bad “I will not deny that single-minded devotion often produces high quality. Nor will I attempt to join the misguided (and scientifically discredited) many who say “Yeah, other people can’t do it, but I am super awesome at doing ten things at once” (656) he explained. Silverman strongly believes that as human beings we have the habit of always trying to do as many tasks or get more time out of a 24 hour day.…
In the article “Hooked on Gadgets and Paying a Mental Price” by Matt Richtel, we learn about the effects of being consumed by technology as well as multitasking. In the article, Richtel provides us with a real life example of the Campbell’s, and how Mr. Campbell’s addiction almost cost him a lucrative contract for his startup company. Also, we learn about how he could not even enjoy a family vacation without having his technological fix. Richtel also gives us hard scientific facts about the effects of technology and multitasking, such as the fact that multitaskers are less likely to be able to sort out irrelevant information and that multitaskers do worse when trying to juggle between tasks.…
In today’s world, are their any viable options to multitasking? We have become quite adept at juggling projects, emails, phone calls, and social media in our daily lives. Much research has been conducted, and many studies have come to the conclusion that multitasking lessens one’s overall effectiveness. David Silverman, in his essay “In Defense of Multitasking” presents and opposing side to this contention. Silverman, a Harvard Business Review blogger, goes so far as to likening our seemingly primal need to multitask to our necessity to breathe air (539). While it may not prove to be as vital as oxygen, Silverman demonstrates how crucial it is for the workplace.…
Multitasking is the most detrimental activity in the human race. It is used in multiple aspects of life, including technology. Technology is revolutionary. In Restak’s “Attention Deficit; The Brain Syndrome of Our Era,” he expresses how today’s society has affected humans to the place where their brains have been rewired. Additionally, in the documentary Digital Nation, the film, like Restak, also shows how technology has affected humans. As a result of technology, there have been many advances in medicine like the creation of the MRI and CT scanners that have saved numerous people from life-threatening injuries. However, technology is also destructive. Continually, countless people have not developed the…
Reading the article the author wants us to think about how often we are multi-tasking without being aware of it. She wants us to think about the effects this has on our daily activities. Recognizing that multi-tasking is not doing more than one thing productively, but shifting focus which may not be…
Multitasking is something that most teens do in their everyday life. Whether it is during studying time, hangout time, or even family time, teens tend to engage in multiple tasks at the same time. Rebecca A. Clay, the author of Mini-Multitaskers, also agrees with this concept. Her overall main point throughout the article is that Multitasking prevents teens form learning and retaining information. In the article, it is made evident of where she stands. Clay makes it blatantly obvious that she feels as though multitasking has a negative effect on the brain as well as the learning development. Clay uses statistics such as “…According to a 2006 Kaiser Family Foundation…
Multitasking is working on multiple things at one time. Researchers say that when a person works on one thing at a time, also known as monotasking, the two frontal lobe's work together for this one task, but when there are two tasks each frontal lobe works…
Multitasking Hurts Performances but Makes You Feel Better, the title says it all. The authors’ main reason for this article is to share the truth about multitasking with the public. The article talks about studies taken on individual students over a period of time and their urge for multitasking. The students who multitasked seem to think that when they are studying and listening to music, watching television, texting, or on the internet that it makes them more productive. In reality the students are only obtaining an emotional boost from doing so. The author argues that when juggling too many tasks that you will perform poorly so you should refrain from doing so. They also claim that if you are a victim of multitasking now, you will most likely continue this trend and make it a habit. “It is critical that we carefully examine the long-term influence of media multitasking on how we perform on cognitive tasks.”…
Edward Hallowel, a psychiatrist and author of CrazyBusy: Overstretched, Overbooked, and About to Snap! (Ballantine, 2006). “Multitasking is shifting focus from one task to another in rapid succession.” Depending on the activity or the individual you may or may not be benefiting from doing multiple tasks at once.…
We live in a world today where we almost never perform one task at a time. We're constantly switching from one thing to another, going back and forth between writing an email to your boss and talking on the phone to a fellow coworker. If you haven't figured it out by now, I'm talking about multitasking. You may think that multitasking is the best way to get things done and that it saves time, when in retrospect it has been proven to be just the opposite. Multitasking not only makes you less productive and wastes your time, but it also harms your brain.…
Tugend believes that multitasking does not mean doing several things while simultaneously tasking. People can and should train themselves to have a longer attention span and focus on a longer task. Society believes that technology and busy lives demand and facilitate multitasking. Attention span…
Multitasking can be prevented by self-control. In the marshmallow test this test was a result of self-control and obedience. Children were given a marshmallow and was told if they could wait 15 minutes without eating the marshmallow, then they would be rewarded with two marshmallows. This test was proven that the ones who had self-control were more likely successful in life compared to the ones who couldn’t…
After completing the self- assessment, I need to work on multitasking when people are talking to me. Being a full-time mother of two, a full-time student, working part-time, planning a wedding and attempting to start a business, multitasking works in my favor. There is always something that needs to be started or completed in my world. after reading chapter one, I understand that even though my multitasking may work for me, it may not work for the people around me and I can miss something important being said because I am not giving my undivided attention to the person speaking to me. I plan on using the five steps below to improve my developmental needs.…
Throughout the day, people constantly find themselves starting, stopping and finishing many different cognitive tasks. This study was conducted to discover the effect that task switching has on performance. Thirty eight students participated in this experiment. They were asked to complete both repeating and switching tasks. The 100 total tasks were fully randomized with 50 task repeating and 50 task switching. It was hypothesized that when a participant will be asked to switch a task over repeating one, he or she will be significantly slower in reacting. The collected data revealed that in fact, the reaction time for task switching trials was significantly higher than for repeating ones. These findings supported the hypothesis. One can conclude from here that when one switches between cognitive tasks they can expect themselves to perform less than optimally then when they repeat the same task over and over.…
I have always had this idea that me being a mono-tasker makes me seem less intelligent than your average texting-and-driving, tweeting-and-doing homework multitaskers. However, after watching the short videos, and the PBS documentary, I am reassured that multitasking is not always a good skill to have, not when you're doing something that requires cognitive skills and physical effort (math, writing, studying, driving).…