Melissa Gear Thomas Foster M.Ed. English 101 Persuasive Essay December 12, 2017 Multitasking – Helpful or Hurtful Technology is prevalent in our personal and professional lives. Everywhere we go; there are multiple screens and multiple distractions. How is productivity when being inundated with information and devices? There seems to be some bragging rights associated with multitasking, however many would argue the opposite. The following examines how multitasking negatively influences personal and professional productivity and how we should make changes to reduce digital distractions. There is no Such Thing as Multitasking There is no such thing as multitasking. In the article by Joseph Frankel, Pigeons Can “Multitask” Better than Humans, humans and pigeons were given the exact same alternating tasks. The reaction times were compared and ultimately the pigeons came out on top (Frankel). There is analysis and considerations of brain makeup between birds and humans, which can explain the reactions times, however on a cognitive level, there is no such thing as multitasking. The article goes on to say just as no one “…fluidly text while driving, browse the web while walking, or tweet while working. While we …show more content…
It is an interesting point and supported by the above claim that we can train our brains to become heavy or light multitaskers. Clifford Nass states, the issue is not about multitasking on related items, but rather when we are writing email, watching YouTube and on posting on Twitter about another social event (The Myth of Multitasking). “It's extremely healthy for your brain to do integrative things. It's extremely destructive for your brain to do non-integrative things” (The Myth of
As human beings, it is becoming more of a second nature to us to multi-task. As the world is technologically advancing more and more every day, there are becoming more distractions. Social-media is flourishing, reality TV show ratings are going up, and humans even unintentionally check their phones every two minutes. In this day of age, multi-tasking is proving to promote inefficiency rather than productivity.
In the article, “Multitasking Can Make You Lose…Um…Focus,” Alina Tugend centralizes around the negative effects of multitasking. She shows that often with multitasking, people tend to lose focus, lack work quality, have an increase in stress, and in the end she gives a solution to all these problems. Tugend conveys her points by using understandable language, a clear division of subjects, and many reliable sources, making her article cogent.
Students may easily lose their attention and concentration with easy access to such incredibly rich store of information. With such new technologies as television, internet and social networks, people nowadays tend to multitask more often as they have easy access to a large amount of information. However, such easy access may sometimes be a distraction. Study “Your Brain on Computers” reports that heavy multitaskers perform up to 20% worse on most tests compared to performance of light multitaskers. Working efficiency of people, who multitask, is claimed to be significantly lower. The same is with concentration. (Crovitz 353) As a result, they are not engaged in working process. Students tend to be easily distr...
In the chapter “Attention Deficit: The Brain Syndrome of Our Era,” from The New Brain, written by Richard Restak, Restak makes some very good points on his view of multitasking and modern technology. He argues that multitasking is very inefficient and that our modern technology is making our minds weaker. Multitasking and modern technology is causing people to care too much what other people think of them, to not be able to focus on one topic, and to not be able to think for themselves.
In the article,“Multitasking is actually kind of a problem for kids and adults” by Hayley Tsukayama the author went into detail about how parents and their children view their personal media habits. One of the ways that the parents and children viewed their media habits as was feeling the need to respond to texts and notifications immediately. “More than 1,200 parents and teens surveyed, 48 percent of parents and 72 percent of teens said they felt the need to respond to texts and notifications immediately, almost guaranteeing distractions throughout the day” (Tsukayama). This article can be connected to “The Epidemic of Media Multitasking While Learning” both of the articles discussed the different factors of media multitasking among individuals. The article from The Washington Post website gave great insight on multitasking and rather it is bad for students when it comes to learning. I believe that the issue being discussed is very relevant because if students are easily distracted by technology while in their learning environment it results in them not learning
In response to how fast everything around us, our brain has had to adapt. In his essay, Restak says, “we can be at two places at one time.” For example, you can be talking to someone in person but texting someone else at the same time. Technology has made it possible for us to contact someone in the other side of the world without having to be there in person. This makes us immediately available in more than one place at a time. Yet all of this has to do with our ability to what we call multitasking. Multitasking is something everyone does every day whether they realize it or not. As I said before, when you are talking to a friend and texting someone else at the same time you are multitasking. This is just another example of a way the human brain has had to adapt. Yet this also may not be as efficient as many people would think. In his essay, Restak supports this when he writes, “When you are multitasking your attention at any given moment is directed more towards one of the activates that you are doing rather than both at the same time. Your frontal lobes (which are the main control centers toward the front of your brain) must shift goals and activate new rules of operation. You also encourage different sensory experiences, which makes it harder and takes even longer to get one thing done.” Our brains are designed to work more efficiently when it works on a single task. Until very recently our minds have had to
Multitasking requires that a worker divides his/her time and energy on multiple tasks at the same time. As a result, the care and attention to detail is divided. The amount of focus that could be used to review one assignment is split. In an experiment, Patterson (2017) discovered that students who studied while participating in media multitasking took longer to complete tasks in their classes. This experiment addresses media multitasking in the case of students. While it is not a type of multitasking we normally consider, it does involve performing multiple tasks at one. Instead of putting all of their focus on their assignments, these students’ attention is on the assignment and on their social media. The results of the experiment prove that it when placed in scenarios where people are required to focus on multiple things, it takes more time to complete certain tasks. In this instance, media multitasking caused a decrease in performance. In another experiment, Paridon and Kaufmann (2010) made an observation when studying multitasking in the workplace, stating that people’s reaction time diminished when multiple tasks were completed at once. The believe that multitasking affects people’s performance has also been proven to be true in the workplace, as the speed of people’s production when down when required to complete multiple tasks. Performance can be determined by the speed in which a task is completed.
Multitasking with non-course material results in a student’s attention being diverted from the course material that is being taught. This can result in errors in memory for the student and also a more difficult time learning the information outside of the classroom (Kraushaar & Novak, 2010, p.1). The University of Vermont completed a study in order to determine the impacts of multitasking with a laptop during a university lecture. Through the experiment they were able to determine that “students with a high [and long] frequency of software multitasking during lectures will exhibit lower academic performance than students with a low [and short] frequency of software multitasking” (Kraushaar & Novak, 2010, p.6). This shows that repeated and lengthy multitasking with technology in particular laptops during lecture times can cause extremely negative results in a students academic performances and
According to The Dangers of Multitasking, the downsides of multitasking outweigh its upsides (Davies 39). Multitasking students can miss many necessary information that they really need to pass tests and understand lessons when they multitask during the lectures, which causes them to get a low grade on their tests. “Many experienced multitaskers have experienced an unexpected thing when, for example, their e-mail service was disabled for a period of time. They discovered that they were actually more productive during that period of time” (Multitasking 758). That means that multitaskers are more productive when they concentrate on one task; so students will do better on tests and in school in general, if they quit or cut back on multitasking during classes. Moreover, “The human brain works more efficiently on a single task and for sustained rather than intermitted or alternating periods of time” (Multitasking 758). So, this does not mean...
A lot of people believe they can multitask but in reality they can´t. Multi-tasking actually hurts your brain. Our brains were made for focusing on one thing and one thing only and when you multi-task it is actually slowing your brain down. When people think the are multi-tasking they are actually going from one thing to another very quickly. When doing this, this causes really bad brain habits. Another thing that multitasking does is that it makes it more harder to focus and throw out all the information you do not need in your brain. A study was done at the University of London and it showed that people who were multi-tasking had an IQ of a person who skipped a night of sleep or a person who smokes marijuana. Multi-tasking has also shown
Let’s play a game. I want you to make a sunny-side up egg, compose an email for your boss, solve a basic math Allegra, and mix one cup of vegetables juice in five minutes and thirty seconds. How does it sound? Fun, isn’t it? Here is the result. If you can finish all tasks in five minutes, congratulation, you belong to the 2% of the population who has the perfect gift of super multitasking, and thanks to your parent for passing to you this unique gene, according to MD. Sanjay Gupta. However, if you cannot even finish one task in the game, that is okay. You belong to the rest of the population. The good new is that this group is much bigger comparing with the other. Beside, many studies have showed that multitasking
Some people have five tabs open, one dinging because a friend sent a message, the other playing a song, the next one buzzing with a computer game, and the last two lively with notifications on social media. Managing all those tabs at once can be tricky, and harmful. Many multitaskers cannot stick to one thing at a time, they must be up and running. One study shows that multitaskers also have trouble at focusing and shutting out irrelevant information and are usually experience more stress. Others say that when playing a videogame, that multitasking is good because it improves reaction skills and people are able to pick out clutter.
In job settings, distractions caused by cell phones and internet surfing have a negative impact on overall productivity Employees fail to provide quality customer service and are unable to complete their daily assignments (Laroya). This has a negative impact on the overall economy. This lack of productivity has forced businesses to change the way that they operate. People are being replaced with machines because of their lackadaisical approach to personal interaction and communications (Nilles). The end result of this decreased productivity presents a negative impact on our overall economy.
Multitasking: Multitasking is when a computer is able to run more than one application at the same time, for example have Microsoft Word and Internet open at the same time.
Multitasking is a growing trend in today’s busy world. People seem to be constantly doing many things at a time and enjoy doing so. Walk down any street here in Boston and you can observe people multitasking everywhere. People are on social media while walking, posting while eating and even texting and driving. Dzubak describes multitasking as an “individual’s engagement in discrete tasks that are performed in succession” (Dzubak, 2007).