644 Good News for your brain
Multi-tasking isn't good for you! Finally, I've seen in print what I've experienced.". . .a growing number of studies show that trying to juggle jobs rather than completing them sequentially can take longer overall and leave multitaskers with a reduced ability to perform each task. In addition, the stress associated with multitasking may contribute to short-term memory difficulties. The combination results in inefficiency, sloppy thinking and mistakes--not to mention the possible dangers of divided attention . . ." p. 63 "The limits of multitasking," Scientific American Mind, Premier Issue, 2004.
So take that cell phone off your head, snuff out the cigarette, stop eating, take a deep breath and drive like a sane person.
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5 comments:
I'm going to find that aticle and send it to my boss and my wife and everyone else who seems to think I should be better at multitasking and prioritizing and to whom I have sometimes admitted I wish I never got my degrees and still had the one-task-at-a-time job that paid an hourly wage.
Although I collect and write about first issues (see http://premiereissue.blogspot.com, In the Beginning), I seldom see one to which I'd like to subscribe. Scientific American Mind looks like a keeper.
I need to pay more attention while driving, but it isn't cuz I multitask in the car...I just space out. Other stuff, though, I can do well while multitasking. I think it's just a genetic thing, like eidetic memory, which my eldest daughter and I also have.
That's a new one on me, Paula. Eidetic: marked by or involving extraordinarily accurate and vivid recall esp. of visual images. But if you are multitasking, what if what you are doing isn't visual?
Listening is harder. Usually I take notes on what I hear if I need to remember it.
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