Thursday, January 29, 2009

Multi-tasking

After reading the article by Claudia Wallis on multitasking, it occurred to me just how much I multitask throughout the day. I guess with such busy lives, we don't think about it because it's our way of getting everything done that we need to do for the day. For this blog I want to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of multitasking throughout the day. When is it okay to multitask and when are there risks involved?

An obvious advantage of multitasking is being able to do and finish multiple things at the same time. For example, in the article someone doing homework while their computer loads is a simple way to multitask. Let's think of another example, talking with a peer while on your way to class, it's not so dangerous because you don't have to think about walking, it's something we can do unconsciously. In this sense I think multitasking can be a good thing, because if we did not multitask, we would have to stop in the middle of the walkway to have a conversation. There's nothing wrong with that, unless maybe you are running late. What other harmless examples of multitasking can you think of? Other advantages of multitasking?

Now we must think about the disadvantages. Some might say there are minimal disadvantages, but the following example will prove that multitasking can be a dangerous habit. Text messaging while walking is one thing, but you can take it too far. Now I know everyone does it, so don't deny it: text messaging while driving. You've been having this interesting conversation with a friend about something, but you are also driving, you take your eyes of the road for a few moments and when you look up the car in front of you had to stop suddenly. You hit the other car, all because you couldn't wait to look at the text at a stop light or something. This is a serious consequence of multitasking and you don't even think that a few moments could cause this. What are other disadavantages the article talks about?

I think it is okay to multitask, in our world today it's impossible not to. But where do we draw the line? What are your opinions on when it is okay to multitask and when do we need to be more careful about multitasking?

24 comments:

  1. I am a big fan of multi-tasking… in fact checking emails and making a list of what all needs to be done today while typing this up. As advantageous as multi-tasking can be there are negative effects of doing so such as a decrease in efficiency as the article suggests. This seems to be especially true when multi-tasking is mixed with academics. For example, studying or reading perhaps this article while catching up on TV or conversing with a roommate. Now don’t get me wrong some people can handle these combinations just fine, but for me the combination severely decreases efficiency. An article can take almost double the time to read and information being “studied” doesn’t stick at all. Perhaps when multi-tasking uses multiple conscious thought processes overall performance of tasks is hindered resulting in a negative effect…

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  2. Multitasking is a great skill someone can possess. I would consider myself good at multitasking. Not just the simple ability to watch television while my computer loads, but the ability to drive and text at the same time. And yes I will admit I do text/talk on my phone while I drive. I am aware of the hazards but I am willing to take them. I usually can not study for exams unless I am listening to music and/or watching television. For some reason I can not concentrate when my one task is studying. I also am able to pay attention to multiple conversations while I am studying or reading something. I feel if people are able to multitask, then there is no need to draw a line. But if people do not have the capacity to multitask they should not try. It annoys me when I ask a question to someone and their response is "Huh?" or "What did you say?" Obviously, those people do not have the ability to multitask and are focused on one task. People like that should be careful if they multitask.

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  3. I love to multitask! It is very convenient to be on the phone, while sitting at the computer sending or checking my email or even cleaning up my room. I'm able to engage in a wanted conversation with a friend or my boyfriend and still get needed work done such as the washing of dishes. However, I do feel there needs to be a strong line drawn when it comes to where you are doing certain multitasking tasks and what kind of multitasking you are engaging in.
    If its in the safety of your home as the things mentioned above then I think it is definitely okay to multitask. It is when it comes to being in an outside environment around others when multitasking can become a dangerous and sometimes deadly hazard to yourself or others. Take for example the widely popular device especially used by college students, the ipod. There have been several occasions when I may encounter a friend and i'm almost screaming their names (slight exaggeration) but they have no idea that anyone is trying to speak to them because they have their headphones in and the music blasting. I know if they cannot hear me while simply standing at the bus stop, what about when they are walking around campus and crossing streets. Us, as college students have a tendency to just cross streets without really doing the procedure parents branded into us at a young age, "look both ways all the time." So can this ipod wearing, music blasting friend who couldn't hear me at the bus stop hear a bus coming from around the corner when they decide to step out and cross the street? Just this past summer school a foreign exchange student was hit by a bus while she was doing a regular routine of jogging. She had the ipod on and didn't hear the bus coming up the street.
    In general i feel that multitasking does have its positive and negatives, but I think the positives may outweigh the negatives. As individuals we just have to be cautious about what type of multitasking we engage in and where we decide to do the multitasking.
    I just thought about a question and i'm curious to know what other's think about it...Do you think that doing certain multitasking interferes with some of our other senses? For example, when we are driving while listening to music why do we find ourselves turning it down and saying we can't find the address we are looking for. I didn't know trying to see something had to do with my hearing. With this said, maybe there is a limit to how much multitasking can be done at one time.

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  4. I am also a huge fan of multi-tasking. It seems that now, more than ever, there are 100 things going on a once and you can't help but try to tackle a few at the same time. Time is something that I feel I have so little of so anything that is going to save me 15 minutes, 30 minutes, even an hour, I am all for! I do think, in my experience, that it does make me more effecient in that I am getting more done in half the time but what suffers is the quality of work getting accomplished. When it comes to menial tasks like talking on the phone while listening to music I don't think that much suffers. There is a line to be drawn though. For instance, watching a television show while writing a paper or listening to music while studying. You go to the library now and everyone has headphones in listening to music. This has been proven that studying is less effective when you are listening to music or having something going on in the background. The quality of work that is being accomplished isn't as good.
    It is hard to determine when multi-tasking is going to work toward your advantage or disadvantage. I know, in my own personal experience, sometimes I take a hit on the quality or work just so I can accomplish two things at once and save myself time. I would rather watch the television show while writing my paper then watch it now and stay up late writing the paper.

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  5. I also agree with everyone in the opinion that multi-tasking is a great thing when done at the appropriate times and by the appropriate people. Unfortunately along with many, I abuse this time saving behavior. I am also guilty of putting not only myself, but others in danger on the road because of my texting while driving. It seems that there is a possibility that the new technology which we all have come to know and love so much has caused many to become not only dependent, but a bit obsessive and impulsive. Why is it that people can’t wait to look at their texts? Why are we so careless with multitasking? Maybe as Carr suggested Google is making us stupid in the sense that we are becoming careless. Maybe the constant stimulation and rapid information accessing and processing is making us impatient, impulsive and down right stupid. It seems that this may be the case for Carr anyway, “My mind now expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of particles.” He also mentions getting fidgety, have we not only become dependent on technology, but also on the stimulation we receive from these devices? I know that there are others like myself who find themselves constantly looking at their phones, or listening to their Ipods, or checking their email. After a nice rush of multitasking, when at home are we truly able to just relax and enjoy the quiet or do we need to turn on the TV, surf the web, listen to the radio, or maybe all of them at once?

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  7. I definitely agree with the comment Elizabeth made above. Though it's been this way for quite some time in the U.S., I feel that with our generation we can really see the transformation into even more of an instant gratification society; we want everything, all the time, no questions asked, no hangups along the way. I've told myself before that I'll just not use the internet for a few days but when school is in session, that's pretty much impossible. I too am guilty of slightly obsessive email checking and I always have at least 20 tabs open in Firefox. I could just as easily only have one or two open and then go back to wherever I started after consuming those, but for some reason, I feel like I have to go ahead and open it all, perhaps for fear of forgetting I was interested in looking at something. But in reality, I don't usually make it through everything I have open. I look through one site/read the page and oftentimes think of something else I'd like to look at or follow a link to somewhere else and before I know it, hours have passed. I feel multi-tasking can also be linked to the ease with which we, or at least myself personally, get distracted. There's so much information available all the time and we're so connected, between constant email checking, texting, and phone calls, that I do wonder if our ability to concentrate is being slowly eroded. I do think multi-tasking helps me get things done at times, but I also see the negative effects and decrease in quality output. And once you get used to so much stimulation, it's hard to do things without it.

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  8. According to the National Safety Council, there should be laws banning cell phone usage while driving. Even if it's hands free, they say the act of talking/texting in itself is so distracting that it doesn't matter. They argue that cellphones limit our ability to multi-task.

    What do you all think about this? Businesses are already starting to ban employees from using cell phones while driving on the job. Are there other technologies you feel decrease your multi-tasking efficiency?

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  9. I think that multitasking just in general is something that we aren't able to avoid in our everyday lives. Doing only one thing at a time (besides sleeping) seems so simple and almost unproductive at times. I think as a society, we feel like we should always be doing something to keep up with the things going on around us. So multitasking is a totally accepted practice as far as I'm concerned but obviously not all the time. When its done in a dangerous situation, when it diverts your attention from human interaction, when you are less productive, etc are times when multitasking is definitely not needed. I did a psychology study actually all last semester about whether people who usually study with music actually do better with music on a given task and the same for people who normally studied in silence did the task in silence. Despite only having like 40 people do our study and the results being fairly inconclusive, there definitely was a trend in the sense that people who are used to doing simple multitasks throughout the day will tend to be more productive and able to handle it I guess as opposed to others. It is really just another way to show our individuality I guess...

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  10. I am going to start this post by commenting on the question posed by CMcCaleb: Do you think that doing certain multitasking interferes with some of our other senses? The example given was when we are driving while listening to music why do we find ourselves turning it down and saying we can't find the address we are looking for. I defiantly find myself turning down the music when I am lost. With this question it makes me wonder if everyone who is blasting music and singing along to their favorite songs really are concentrating on the road in front of them along with the other cars surrounding around them.

    I do believe in multi-tasking because I feel that if I wasn’t able to do it in certain situations some things wouldn’t get done in time. Therefore I agree with other posts in which multi-tasking is okay when you are completing certain tasks that do not need your whole hearted attention. Especially, in college you are faced with hundreds of tasks that need to be completed and dead lines in which they need to be completed by. With that I feel that multi- tasking in college is almost a necessary ability if you want to be successful.

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  11. I agree with Meghan's comment. Multitasking does in fact interfere far too much with our senses and can be seen by some as even a disadvantage. When you multitask you are doing several things at once and giving a little attention to each task; I think that it ultimately interferes and effects our ability to give our undivided attention to any one particular thing or daily task. During this day and age we are taught from a very young age that in order to get everything done in a day's time you have to multitask and I think it's the wrong mind-set. I'm not saying that i don't multitask, but i do wish i didn't have to sometimes. (In fact, I'm guilty of almost all of the examples given in previous comments). It's just kind of scary to think about what's to come next, and what might be expected of us as our society continues to speed up. Something more than multitasking?

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  12. I feel like I'm a very efficient person. I often try to test myself by inadvertently imposing little time restrictions just to see how much I can really get done in, say, half an hour. I feel a certain sense of accomplishment when I get these tasks done, but something is always pinging in the back of my mind: am I really going deeply, getting a lot out of these tasks, learning? While I'm watching the Office, reading my articles online, posting on discussion boards, and checking my email, am I really absorbing all this information?

    A recent study by the American Psychological Association focuses on just this problem. While undertaking these balancing acts, we're prioritizing and allocating the mind's resources to adjust and perceive. The study revealed that when subjects switch tasks, they lose time, especially with more complex tasks. Their research involves two stages: goal shifting and rule activation. These both take significant amounts of time. So, in conclusion, I might try focusing on one thing for once? Maybe it'll be more efficient in the end?

    More information: http://www.apa.org/journals/releases/xhp274763.pdf.

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  13. Multi-tasking is a huge part of my life, and I'm sure that it is a huge part of every other college student's life as well. Being a student isn't even necessary because multi-tasking is almost certainly a crucial role in most people's lives. Without the ability to do more than one thing at a time in today's world, one would easily get left behind. Regardless of whether or not studies have shown that multi-tasking can decrease efficiency, today it seems that it is more of a necessity to multi-task than work efficiently. Overall, I cannot see how there is a way around being a multi-tasker, and I am all for it

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  14. I have to multi-task or I would never get everything done; however, I have problems multi-tasking when combining tasks that require more of my focus. I’m a very cautious driver, because I’m not the best driver, so I rarely text people while driving. I always complete many task while watching TV, because I need more than one thing to hold my attention. Sometimes I feel like I get more accomplished when I have some noise or distraction in the background, so I usually leave the TV on something I’ve already seen that does not require a lot of my attention. I do tend to mute the TV when commercials are on because I find them to be more distracting than the actual program that’s on. When I was younger I used to always watch TV or have music on while I was studying, but now if I’m studying for a test I have to go somewhere by myself without distractions. I think multi-tasking is more efficiently done when one task requires significantly less attention than the other or when tasks are done during the lag time of others. I think multi-tasking done while doing things like driving is a lad idea, because the lack of focus causes accidents and injuries. A call or text here and there is not as bad as a woman putting on all her make up while driving. The idea of no cell phones while driving is a law in many states and will probably be illegal in all states soon, because in some instances multi-tasking is dangerous to those around you.

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  15. Multitasking, like everyone has said, is just a fact of life. Some of the comments have referenced that it's something very much a part of life today. However, I think multitasking has probably been something humans have always practiced. It's in our nature to multitask; we like to stay busy, we often have more on our plates than we can handle, so we try to do many things at once. This was true of 14th century farmers and it's true of modern-day business people.

    Where I think we need to draw the line is not only at the life-threatening point, but at key moments in our day-to-day life as well. While text messaging while driving is very obviously dangerous, multitasking while having dinner with your family might be something to avoid as well. We have to take time in our busy lives to focus on one thing. This kind of distraction-free focus gives us time to re-connect with what is truly important and bring us back down to earth. It's also relaxing and puts everything back in perspective.

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  16. I cannot multitask for the life of me, unlike the many other respondents who have aired their views above. Seeing how much people get done with the ability to multi-task makes me envious of them sometimes. However, are people who can multi-task neccessarily more efficient than someone who can't?

    Technically, someone who tackles one task at a time should be able to complete a task in the same amount of time as someone who constantly 'toggles' between a series of tasks. I think the style in which one completes tasks depends very much on the attention span of a person. If someone has a short attention span, switching between tasks might actually help the person focus better on the task at hand. Those with more determination and a longer attention span would probably concentrate longer on a certain task before moving on to the next.

    This reminds me much of the articles we read a few weeks back about how our attention spans are shortened due to 'pampering' from the internet.

    That, however, does not explain my case, since I have a short attention span and yet, cannot multi-task. I suppose the two just make for a rather bad (and not to mention, unproductive) combination. Makes me wonder how many youths in this era of technology face the same predicament.

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  17. Multi-tasking has become a necessity in our everyday lives, as many peers have commented on how frequent they multi-task. But we really need to look at the “tasks” that are accomplished when we are multi-tasking. Sure we can all watch TV, listen to music, and surf the web or check e-mail, and possibly even talk on the phone. Are we really completing tasks, or just absorbing our surroundings? These are fairly brain numbing activities and I wouldn’t consider this multi-tasking. To me, it’s almost lost the definition as we have evolved with culture and society, and we need to reanalyze what we are actually accomplishing when working on five tasks at once.
    I think true multi-tasking is very hard, and does not occur as frequently as we say it does. The tasks I mentioned above have just become a nature tendency for growing/developing humans to accomplish. Think about our parents for a second: they might have a brain aneurism if they tried to accomplish the same amount in the time frame we do, but for us “it’s just natural”. True multi-tasking (what I gain from thinking about multiple tasks all at once) would involve something like writing a novel while completing a chemistry reaction, oh yeah, while at a concert. Doesn’t that sound ridiculous and near impossible? Maybe at one time the generations above us thought the same about the tasks we simultaneously complete now. It will be remarkable to see in 50 years what multi-tasking involves, and if the tasks we now consider impossible to do all at once are being done in minutes…

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  18. MULTI TASKING IS GREAT! I love being able to sit down and do three or four things at once rather than to complete each task separately. It helps to speed up the process. However there is a downfall to multitasking. I find it hard to give each task the specific attention it needs and sometimes focusing on so many things creates a major headache. I feel as though multitasking is acceptable in certain settings, such as that workplace and school and should be utilized then.

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  19. Computers enable us to multitask more than ever before. Currently I have 4 tabs open on my web browser and 3 different applications open. As I am waiting for an email response, and downloading a document I am writing my post for this blog. Without multitasking I believe that I would not be able to do everything required of me in a day. Sometimes it does get to be too much and I find myself loosing my place in one task attempting to complete another. In the case of texting and driving I must realize that my priority is on driving safely. The danger is when two tasks become equally important and consequences can be severe.

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  20. The practicality or ethical value of multitasking is primarily related to environment in which the multitasking would take place. For example, in a class setting, it is more entertaining to surf the internet during a lecture but at the cost of missing important information or being disrespectful to the professor. During a conversation, multitasking in any way that takes your attention away from the other individual could be interpreted as a lack of interest on your part. This is not a factor when you are alone, but as mentioned, there are instances such as driving when it is disadvantageous to multitask even if you are the only one in the car. Basically, multitasking can be beneficial or harmful based on the setting in which it takes place.

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  21. I think multitasking is a great skill to have in the workforce. It allows one to email, talk on the phone and text message all at the same time. Unfortunately one does run the risk of not being able to do their work to the best of their ability. In other words you may lose quality for rate at which one can complete and start a task. When working on a presidential campaign last semester I figured out how completely necessary it is to have the ability to juggle five different screens opened on your computer (refreshing your email), resting the phone on your shoulder while on a conference call and checking your blackberry for news updates. Never again will I underestimate the power of multitasking.

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  22. Maybe this is just because I'm an awful multitasker, but I think very, very few people can multitask and do any individual task as well as they could do it if they were simply concentrating on it on its own. There are exceptions--I think we're all capable of walking and chewing gum, but in general I think we get so obsessed with doing so many things at once that we don't value any individual item. If you're e-mailing while in class, you will inevitably miss something in class, or forget to mention something in your e-mail. Even when doing something as simple as walking and talking on the phone, you may get distracted from your conversation by something happening outside, or even worse, not pay attention and run into something while walking. I think certain multitasking is necessary in today's world, but in general I think quality suffers too much when we try to do too many things at once.

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  23. Nobody can deny that they multitask pretty much all day every day in order to complete everything they need to in their daily lives given just 15 hours (plus or minus) to do it. I convince myself many days that paying attention in class isn't nearly as important or beneficial as catching up with an old friend on GTalk or completing a homework assignment that is due in my next class that day. Only minimally paying attention in class, taking briefer notes than normal, is a risk that I am willing to take in an effort to get more important things done on time. However, I feel comfortable in this decision because it is a personal one-- one that does no harm to others.

    However, when multi-tasking runs the risk of endangering others around me, I think it is important to draw the line. Yes, every so often I will talk/text while driving, but I have been trained to not do so because where I am from (CT) has a law against using your phone while driving, and the penalties are harsh. Since this seems to be one of the most dangerous effects of multi-tasking that has the ability to hurt many, many people, should we consider making this a national law or should we leave such great responsibility up to the individual?

    For the most part, I am thankful that I am one of those people that can multi-task, for I don't think I would be nearly as productive if I couldn't. I love the fact that I can go to a coffee shop and study, where I can interact with other people and listen to music/surrounding conversations, but I have to wonder how effectively/efficiently I am actually doing my work. I do think that multi-tasking can be viewed as a skill, however, because I know many people where texting while simultaneously taking to someone is simply impossible.

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  24. Of course, there is no harm in the simultaneous performance of minimal tasks, such as talking and walking, but there are forced sacrifices and often great risks that accompany modern-day multitasking.

    As Christine mentioned, texting while driving can lead to a serious--and sometimes fatal--accident. However, what was not mentioned are the sacrifices that come with multitasking in class, in the library, or even at work. The temptation to Internet browse while studying or working can inhibit one's ability to concentrate to the extent to which he or she needs in order to perform to task at hand most successfully. Even email notifications can disrupt that concentration, sacrificing performance.

    With modern-day information overflow and the resourcefulness of the Internet, it is imperative that we maintain our ability to concentrate on a single particular task in order to perform to the best of our abilities.

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