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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.
Although some people may think multi-tasking is a benefit because they can get more done, they don’t realize that the more they try to balance at once the less attention they are giving to the tasks at hand. In James Gleick’s article “Attention! Multitaskers,” he talks about how a young co-worker is having a conversation with the companies
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Vice-president. While the young co-worker is having the conversation, he is also reading e-mails. The vice-president becomes annoyed with the fact that the young co-worker is not giving him his full attention during a face-to-face conversation. When people try to multi-task, they are not fully paying attention as best as they can and it has the potential to become rude to others trying to interact with them. If this co-worker would have read his e-mails when the vice-president was not trying to talk to him, he would have been able to take in more details of the e-mails and then also been able to give better feedback to the vice-president at a later time if he wasn’t distracted with his e-mails during the conversation. For example, when I do homework I like to listen to music to fill background noise which makes the time seem like it goes by faster. However, I cannot listen to music while I study for tests because it makes it harder for me to take in information and remember it, especially if a song I like comes on. Another reason multitasking promotes inefficiency is that humans try to rush through their days instead of taking their time to complete their tasks fully.
Gleick says in his article that by the time Michael Hartl “heads for the bathroom…each morning, he has already got his computer starting... And then, as he runs to breakfast, he…[dials] into the campus computer network, and then gets his web browser started so he can check the news while he eats. ‘I figure I save at least two or three minutes a day…” While Michael is trying to get his computer ready at the same time he is getting ready for the day, he has the potential to rush himself through his hygiene activities which could lead him to not fully completing them. As humans we always want the extra moments in our days to stretch to the maximum that they can, even if it means that we have to cut something else in our day short. We like to be able to say we did more because it gives us a boost in our ego for the day. Doing more multitasking in our days does not always mean we did do more. Switching back and forth between tasks could also take up more time than to stick to one task until it is fully done. When we multitask we have to continuously change the way our mind is thinking and what our body is doing. This could take more of a process to repeatedly get started rather than maintain a single thought on a topic and continuously let it
grow. Multitasking also can become exhausting. It is much easier to stay on one task and finish it all the way than it is to continuously switch back and forth between multiple tasks. I myself get exhausted and it eventually makes me want to give up sooner when I try to multitask. When my focus is settled on one task I am able to quickly get it out of the way and better focus on the next assignment I want to get done. “If haste is the gas pedal, multitasking is overdrive.” (Gleick, 304) I think Gleick accurately describes multitasking to me in this quote because the more I attempt to do at once, the more overwhelming it becomes to me. To be highly productive, I believe fully accomplishing one task at a time to the best of my ability is the best action to take. In many ways multitasking has proven to affect productivity in a negative way. Gleick states that multitasking is the “final, fatal flaw.” Even though it may make some people feel like they have achieved more with their time it does not mean that they have done their best work, that they are truly saving any time in their day or they could also be overloading their self with too much pressure.
While reading through the article, I noticed that the loss of focus she spoke of was happening in my life. I agree that we as a society are trying to become more productive, but multitasking is not the way to go. Tugend mentions that the human brain cannot efficiently handle doing multiple things at once (716). I see this in my daily life when trying to carry two or more items while trying to talk on the phone, it usually ends in disaster. However, multitasking is productive in some ways such as listening to classical music while studying. Tugend does a great job at getting personal with the reader; she uses situations that everyone has been through. Throughout the article, Tugend kept me entertained by switching between a casual and informational
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
Today we live in a society where everything is seconds away from us. With the advances and affordability of quality technology, you would be hard pressed to find someone without a smartphone, laptop, or tablet, possibly all at the same time. Because of the accessibility we find that, in our tech-savvy culture, multitasking has not just become an art form of sorts, but rather an expectation. In the article “Multitasking Can Make You Lose…Um…Focus,” Alina Tugend sets out to explore the idea that although multitasking appears to show productivity, it could be doing the opposite. Throughout her article, Tugend uses studies done by neurologists and psychologists to show how in a world that sees multitasking as an expectation it has actually made us less efficient. She proposes, through studies, that although you might be working on multiple tasks it is as if you’re playing tennis with multiple balls (Tugend, 725).
Many would remark that multitasking is a skill that can be trained like all others. However, a lot of neuroscience has went into proving that multitasking is a myth altogether. The article “The Myth of Multitasking” is written by Nancy K. Napier for Psychology today is here to debunk the myth of the brain’s capability to multitask. The article states that the brain is incapable of doing two things at once. Instead, the way that we fool ourselves into thinking that we can multitask is how quickly our brain switches from one task to another. Our brains can’t perform tasks simultaneously as our focus is a narrow beam. So, to compensate for this, our brain switches between these two tasks very quickly, almost as if we are doing them at the same
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.
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
Samuel corrects this outcome in her article by explaining, “Whether it’s an overflowing inbox, a backlog of unread articles or a Twitter feed that moves faster than we can read, most of us are suffering from an information overload.” By having multiple programs open at once, such as a web browser, word processor, and email application, people are overloading themselves with too much information, and are therefore less efficient. Richtel explains how multitasking has been scientifically proven to be less efficient by stating, “While many people say multitasking makes them more productive, research shows otherwise. Heavy multitaskers actually have more trouble focusing and shutting down irrelevant information, scientists say, and they cause more stress.” By only selecting one task at a time to complete, one can stop the information overload causing the loss of focus and the ability to let go of useless figures and programs. However, a loss of focus is not only the consequence of multitasking. A disorder, or as Sam Horn describes it, “. . . a distinctive type of brain organization,” called ADHD causes odd behaviors such as restlessness in children and impatience in adults (Restak 413-414). Restak describes ADHD’s involvement in the workplace by stating, “In order to be successful in today’s workplace you have to incorporate some elements of ADD/ADHD” (416). Multitasking has made the behaviors stated above normal in the workplace, but the symptoms from ADHD or ADD can be limited by reserving a person’s attention to one matter at a time. Though working on only one task at a time may seem less efficient at first, having to switch between programs could cause a loss of focus due to the many distractions such programs could bring
People increased the time they spent on media multitasking with the rise of new technology that people could use. Since 2005, technology has advanced greatly, especially in a way that allows for convenience and easy access to media. In a recent report by David Bauder, a Nielson company study found that ”[t]he typical American adult is using media for a full hour a day more than just last year, with smartphones accounting for most of the increase” (1). Alongside the growth and ubiquity of technology, people have extended the use of media in their lives. For many people, media is a given as a part of everyday living. Furthermore, in Bauder’s report on the Nielson company study, there is an “indication that there's a lot of multi-tasking going on” because people have increased phone and tablet usage while still using other media in similar amounts (1). Phones and tablets have the benefit of being mobile, smaller, and
Technology has always been improving over the decades, and now it has improved to the point where it’s a part of a human being’s life. People can’t imagine living without technology anymore nowadays, and especially college students who are always on their phones and laptops during lectures. That leads to what is known as multitasking, which is the ability to take care of more than one task at the same time. Multitasking has been popularized by students, and specifically college students, who think that they are actually successful at doing it. Unfortunately, according to Digital Nation: Life on the Virtual Frontier, after testing students who think they are brilliant at multitasking, results showed that they are terrible at every aspect of multitasking; consequently, it is not successful.
To understand this better, a research study was conducted by Eyal Ophir, Clifford Nass and Anthony Wagner, to see the results on cognitive control in media multitaskers. Firstly, they gave a two hundred sixty-two university
In the “Attached to Technology and Paying a Price” article, Matt Richtel stated that an increase in stress during multitasking can lead to a decrease in short-term memory. This relates to the research because the participants had a harder time applying the knowledge they learned while multitasking in the DT condition. Both articles also discussed the effects of technology and multitasking on children. Richtel stated that technology can create attention problems due the constant switching between tasks. This in turn can decrease children’s learning and productivity in school. The authors of the “The First Steps to Digital Detox, Room for Debate” article expanded on Richtel’s beliefs and stated that multitasking will lead to shallower and less flexible learning. The results of the research showed that multitasking leads to a different style of learning AND A HARDER TIME APPLYING KNOWLEDGE, but the NY Times articles discussed why this occurs including an increase in stress and divided attention. The NY Times articles accurately represented the research because the articles stated that distractions do have negative effects on learning especially in children. I commend the articles for discussing the effect of multitasking on
“The researchers found that individuals who used their mobiles to communicate and multitask took significantly less notes (individuals who did not multitask with their mobile phones wrote down 62& more information), and their notes were less detailed (Zheng, 2015, p. 88). The evidence shows to the readers that multitasking is disrupting the students learning. It shows that students cannot give a full attention during multitasking, which the students miss, data. This information will help to support my thesis that multitask has bad effect to student’s learning.
How many times have we been told that multitasking is not an efficient way to accomplish tasks? For many of us the answer is multiple, yet somehow we still find ourselves doing homework with the TV on or cooking dinner while talking on the phone. For some reason multitasking just seems unavoidable when faced with the countless tasks we need to get done. We tend to forget that trying to juggle all of our tasks at once can actually cause us to lose 40 percent of our productivity (What are the Cognitive…). But how can something that seems like a great way to get everything done at once cause us to accomplish nothing? Our brains cannot process and encode two different pieces of information, making it impossible to efficiently multitask. When asked to evaluate ourselves on how well we