Multi-tasking as you read this? Checking your cell, a few apps, maybe chatting with your mate and glancing at the paper? Think it’s a good thing?
Long long ago in a culture far away, people spoke these words and felt no stigma: “I can’t walk and chew gum at the same time.”
Now? If it’s true?
You’d better not admit as much, because multi-tasking mania is the new black, the millennial “classic,” the assumed mode of operation for pretty much anything. At least that’s what pop culture would have us believe, and likely our bosses as well if it gets us working nights and weekends.
And what about our teenagers and young adults? What about our kids in elementary school, enthusiastically equipped with their own assorted cells and gadgets?
Convenient or Crazy?
I just saw an ad for a new phone that left me speechless. At first blush, it seems innocuous enough: children sitting in a classroom with a friendly adult, as he asks which is better – doing two things at once or one. All the children insist, enthusiastically, that two is always better.
Because it is, right?
No? Not always?
Isn’t this what they see from their parents day in and day out?
By the way, the commercial highlights a feature that allows for simultaneously talking on the phone and surfing the web, facilitating the ability to split your already fragmented level of attention.
Multi-Tasking to the Max
And so I imagine the following: our teenagers and young adults standing in line with friends or God forbid behind the wheel, not only chatting or texting, but also attempting to check their favorite sites.
Then again, maybe you are stuck in traffic on your long commute, or possibly watching the kids and checking your manager’s latest directive – all while stirring spaghetti, skimming texts, and considering multi-tasking Good, Necessary, and No Big Deal.
Incidentally, I don’t recall the model or maker of the phone (bad ad?), but what I do note is the sour taste left in my mouth.
I’m flummoxed. I’m bothered. This is an appalling message.
And a mirror.
Don’t get me wrong. Multi-tasking is important, and I consider myself Queen of the Five-Things-At-Once Realm on a good day, and an adept juggler of three on the bad. But I’m trying to juggle less, to focus on quality, and only divide my attention when absolutely necessary. Moreover, I’m trying to reduce Five-Things-At-Once to a more reasonable three or four; I’m certainly not looking to up my multi-tasking mastery by the addition of “technology conveniences.”
Is Multi-Tasking Good?
Here are my concerns.
- Aren’t we overwrought with a sense of doing too much at once? Is the message that multi-tasking is always better counterproductive – or worse?
- How often do we skim rather than read? Doesn’t surfing and talking or any similar “convenience” strain our already abbreviated attention span?
- Shouldn’t we be teaching that multi-tasking has its time and place, as does focusing not only for optimal concentration and effectiveness, but enjoyment?
- Don’t our children model what they see? Isn’t this assumption of multi-tasking as a cultural value an element of our constant stress?
- Are we heightening our frantic pace, our crazed expectations, the incredible pressures on our kids, and our own need for the quick fix mood enhancer and the ADD calming med?
Paradigm; Losing Time
I’m not talking about the juggling mom or dad, or the over-scheduled business person with deadlines looming. I’m troubled by a paradigm shift we aren’t adequately acknowledging – a paradigm shift influencing everything, potentially including the way we think.
And it isn’t one for the better.
It doesn’t necessarily buy us time; it may cost us in the long-run due to lack of attention where it ought to be paid.
At what point do we say “enough” to the do more with less, or do more just because someone is telling us we can?
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This is a tough one. I multitask a lot lately and I think it has actually lowered my ability to catch it all. I only pick up bits and pieces of each and then have to go back to see what I missed. I am trying less as well. Good article today.
Sometimes I miss life in the pre cellphone days because while I worried about getting things done I didn’t spend the same energy I do now trying to make use of all of the productivity tools we have on hand.
There was only so much that could be done at once and that was ok. Now there is always a push to do more because of the tools and I am not sure it is such a good thing.
I think the multitasking platform mobile devices are now pumping is what bothers me most (too much stimulation!). Do I really need to SEE simultaneously that I have 5 new e-mails in my Google inbox and 3 in my Yahoo account while noting that it is 35 degrees outside and that my calendar has four different reminders for today’s agenda and another six on deck for tomorrow? I understand the utility of having the information all organized in one location, but to flash it at me from one screen, every app trying to get my attention at once? It’s overload, and for some people, clearly addictive. We had a couple stay with us for New Year’s weekend and were enjoying a few afternoons of new board games — the woman in the couple couldn’t be pulled away from her phone screen in between her turns. I felt like we were missing out on her presence and that she was missing the banter that comes with being fully engaged in the activity the rest of us were pursuing — pretty sad.
Overload. Exactly, CT. And I agree that for some it becomes addictive. Your example is a case in point. It can be a slippery slope, one I have to watch carefully myself.
I am relieved to see my kids disconnect to go out with friends, and one in particular disconnects to sit with a book (a real book), curled up in a chair, and spend a few hours reading.
There are magical things possible because of technology (not least sitting in bed with my coffee, typing a message on the internet). However, there are of course downsides. I see so many drivers talking on hand held phones still – it’s illegal here in Britain; sometimes I can tell before I see the phone, because of their erratic driving. Even people walking down the street are looking down at their devices, not where they are going. Were I not a small person, I’d be tempted to let them run into me instead of dodging them; I get very tired of being the one who steps aside. I’ve no idea how many couples I see out and about, one of them on the phone or staring at their screen, not really with the other person at all. It’s not behaviour I would tolerate. Then again, I don’t ‘allow’ books or newspapers at the table either, at least not while eating. We don’t really multi-task, either, I’ve read. We just switch our attention back and forth a lot. I sometimes wash dishes while cook dinner. I scan photos while reading blogs. I listened to music while taking down the Christmas tree. I have been known to walk and knit at the same time… I do think it’s important to give people your full attention if you’re going to give them your time at all.
I know it’s not an exact analogy, but the phrase jack of all trades, master of nothing keeps running through my head. The danger of too much multi-tasking is the tendency for none of it to get done with any mastery or thoroughness. It’s seems like so many times it’s all about how much we can do; how much we can cram into a day; how much we can juggle that determines our worth and value. I agree with Shelley, there’s good multi-tasking, but it’s important to make sure you’re giving other people your full attention.
Thinking seriously lately about ditching the so-called smart phone for a plain old cell; you know, just to take and make phone calls. The original role of a telephone. I got this one because it was cool, (of course – at least I admit it!) and I also had an employer that was tracking online website usage so I didn’t want to check my personal email at work, which left me feeling too disconnected from friends and family during the day. But now, not so much a need, and i find I still use the cell to check email – too often – even though I am sitting in front of a desktop and laptop all day anyway, and no one cares what I’m looking at online now. Weird how the urge stuck around even after the need was gone. Hmmm.
Gwen, Remember when none of us or few of us had cell phones – at all? We couldn’t be reached 24/7. There was no expectation of reaching others 24/7.
It wasn’t that long ago. Hard to imagine now. How quickly we’ve all been reprogrammed.
Fascinating observations. Thank you for commenting.