Preview

Technology and multitasking

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
2473 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Technology and multitasking
Multitasking and Technology

We all go through it, there is too much to do and not enough time to do it. Our days are like this more often than not. I’m a single mother of two young boys; I always find myself picking up someone from one event and taking them to somewhere else. Life is a constant challenge to be one-and-a-half places at once, doing two or three things at once. As I go through my day I find myself doing two or three things at a time, multitasking, as I believe as they refer to it, often with the use of some type of technology I have: my IPod, phone, or mini laptop with me all the time. When I work out, I keep an eye on my crawling infant son, as I use the DVD player and talk to his dad on the IPod. Other times I cook dinner, while helping my other son with his homework, and maybe check an email or two, and look up a recipe…well that about sums up the idea hectic life style for most people. What I’m actually doing is a series of tasks one at a time and switching constantly between them. The problem with serial tasking is that it leads to lower quality and less productivity. The rice came out a little overcooked, I think I might have sent the wrong email to the wrong person, and we’re still working on the homework. If concentrating on one thing at a time, I would have had a better chance to do more tasks correctly.
Technology’s influence on us is greater than ever before; we are ever connected by cell phones, laptops, television. We spend time checking social media and emails on these devices. This is true in adults over thirty who often grew up without these devices as children. The use of technological devices is even more prevalent in the younger generations,
We all go through it, there is too much to do and not enough time to do it. Our days are like this more often than not. I’m a single mother of two young boys; I always find myself picking up someone from one event and taking them to somewhere else. Life is a constant challenge to be



References: Anderson, L. & Krathwohl D. (2001). A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing: A Revision of Bloom 's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. New York: Longman Can Kids really do their Homework and Multi-task? (August 14, 2014). Retrieved from http://www.schoolatoz.nsw.edu.au/technology/using-technology/homework-and-multitasking-can-it-be-done Hallowell, E. (2005). Overloaded Circuits: Why Smart People Underperform. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from http://hbr.org/2005/01/overloaded-circuits-why-smart-people-underperform/ar/1 Rosen, C. (2008). The Myth of Multitasking. The New Atlantics: A Journal of Technology and Society. Retrieved from http://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/the-myth-of- multitasking. Taylor, J. (2011). The Power of Prime. Psychology Today. Retrieved from http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-power-prime/201103/technology-myth- multitasking Phuoc, T., Carrillo, R., & Subrahmanyam, K. (2013). Effects of online multitasking on reading comprehension of expository text. Cyberpsychology. 7(3), 1-17. doi:10.5817/CP2013-3-2 Willingham, D. ( 2010). Have Technology and Multitasking Rewired How Students Learn? American Educator 34, ( 2),: 23-28. Retrieved from http://www.aft.org/pdfs/americaneducator/summer2010/Willingham.pdf Zhu, E., & Kaplan M. (2014). Getting Started With Technology. Center for Research on Learning and Teaching. Retrieved from http://www.crlt.umich.edu/teaching-technology/getting-started

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    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.…

    • 661 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Nt1310 Unit 1 Assignment

    • 428 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Technology is the practical application of science to commerce or industry. It plays an important role in people's lives through home, school, medical, and business uses. Smartphones have become more and more necessary to people's life demands. A smartphone is a mobile phone built on a mobile computing platform with more advanced computing ability and connectivity than a feature phone. It affects on people, relationships and society in both good and bad ways. However some people have allowed the phone to overtake their lives. I interviewed two of my class mates, as well as my daughter on their uses of their smartphones. And this is the information I have gathered.…

    • 428 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    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.…

    • 478 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    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.”…

    • 601 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    I also tend to avoid multitasking and prefer concentrating on one activity at a time. I agree with you that there are many people who are trying to do the multitasking by texting or calling and driving at the same time, and every time I see them, I feel uncomfortable. I know that multitasking would make completing daily activities more efficient because it could save your time. However, I feel it would disturb me a lot when I try to concentrate on doing something important. I used to like listening to music while studying because I felt it helps me feel less boring, but I found myself only listening to music instead of studying or doing homework at some point. I agree that exercising and listening to music together would not disturb…

    • 185 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Do you have an ipad, iphone, tablet,video game console, or a laptop? You have most likely used one or at least seen one. They are all very useful in providing information as well as entertaining us .However, are you aware of what technology is doing to the young people in society today? Technology is destroying social skills and social life. A majority of individuals are talking less and texting more. Our hands do more talking than our mouths do.…

    • 683 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Multitasking in my opinion can be a good thing but also a bad thing. Researchers say many teens and children under the age 18 are more likely to multitask compared to mature adults. Technology has been the cause of young teens not paying full attention. Teenagers feel that they will miss out on important information so this messes with teen’s concentration. The brain cannot be at two places at one time. “Not only can people not process two tasks simultaneously, but it also takes longer to multitask than it would to do the individual tasks one after the other”, according to Steven G. Yantis. When a person tries to the do two things that require critical thinking and decision making, a delay is at the second task. When people multitask they are the ones that tend to forget or not remember what was done and get distracted easily.…

    • 334 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Many people believe “multitasking is efficient and comes naturally,” but it can cause a large workload (Mah). The psychology of multitasking is that it can help an individual accomplish more tasks quickly and makes it a desirable skill. When in a time crunch, individuals tend to multitask more often. Anything related to work or school, where the need to excel has…

    • 845 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    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.…

    • 345 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    multitasking

    • 308 Words
    • 2 Pages

    When we multitask, we harm ourselves and don't do things as well as we would if we were focused on a single task. According to the author, "a recent article published in the science journal Neuro Image revealed that when we attempt demanding task simultaneously,we ended up doing neither as well as we should because our brains have cognitive limits". In other words,the author is trying to say that is better to do one thing at a time than multitasking because the brain will work better, and if we are multitasking,we will have a worse memory. For example, sometimes at my job, I have to multitask. This made my memory worse because I try to do three or more jobs at once, like holding wires, connecting them, connecting outlets talking on the phone, and making sure other people are doing their job right, and at the end of the day, i forget to do an important job. Just like tge article says, it is better to have our brain concentrated on once thing at the time to do a good job and avoid any harm to ourselves or others.…

    • 308 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Back to 50 years, when the Internet and modern technology had not appeared, people had no choice expcept working fully stretched by their own brain and hands. Everything has changed since the emergence of technical devices which bring us to the new time where they rule the world.…

    • 258 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    I see myself juggle around between work, school, and a social life. Needing to set aside a few minutes for everything is extremely distressing and totally debilitates me. My class schedule has been influencing my work schedule in where; contingent upon the day I need to work before or after school. This has been a rationally difficult, as well as physically too. Discovering time in the middle of work and school to get my work done has been difficult. Once in a while I usually, phone in sick just to complete my homework or study for an exam. Not just is my time being spent towards school, work, and homework, I don't even have sufficient energy to have a social life. Time management has not been just alarming in my life it has been in my academic. I just can't discover the time to study or to do homework. I have been encountering the absence of fixation in my work and school/homework because of the way that I can't compose my time. Needing to stress over on completing my schoolwork on time or writing essays for English is an obstacle I need to overcome. Subsequent to defeating this obstacle, it will in the end acquire me my bachelors degree in math and…

    • 763 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Life has been a bit busier and slightly more challenging since starting online college. Firstly, I wake up every morning at around 7:30am and immediately let my puppy out from her kennel and take her downstairs to then go potty outside. While she’s outside doing her potty duties, I begin to fix a drink and take my vitamins before going back outside to take care of more puppy duties. Afterwards, I fix breakfast and eat whatever I choose to eat for that day. Most of the time it’s either toaster strudels or chocolate chip waffles that I decide to cook in the toaster oven. Once I finish eating, then the puppy and I go back upstairs and I put her in the kennel while I get a shower and ready for the day ahead. Which is a process in itself, from taking the actual shower to fixing my hair, brushing my…

    • 612 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Working as nurse for several years has allowed me to learn how to effectively prioritize my actives on a daily basis. Several researchers, including Joe Landsberger (Study Guides and Strategies, 1996), have stated that it is important to help yourself become aware of how you use your time. Creating a list and prioritizing it can help schedule goals around plans, and leisure time around running errands. It is important to separate the daily “to do” list form the “in the near future.” This keeps goals within a tangible manner. Setting realistic and achievable daily obligations and straying from overloading yourself is essential. I believe, if something…

    • 526 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    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).…

    • 318 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays