Please don’t read this in traffic! The research is in and the findings suggest you would be wise to curb your multitasking in the office, studying and especially, driving a car. Researchers at the Human Information Processing Laboratory at Vanderbilt University used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to locate “bottlenecks” in the brain and measured the lost efficiency due to trying to perform two or more tasks at once.
Americans are trying to do too many things at the same time. That’s probably no surprise as you read this article on your laptop (while you are opening mail!) with iPod earbuds in place and your cell phone alerting you to a text message it has just received. I bet you’ll be thumb typing a reply before you get up!
This means that our attention is divided into two, three or more sections. As a result, since our powers of consciousness are limited, we put less effort into any one activity while we do many things at once. We live life in fragments. You’ve seen a driver swerving a bit. The driver may be scanning a directory before placing a call. You’ve seen drivers meandering in the right-hand lane. Incredibly, this person may be typing a text message on those barely legible chicklets! Even when you can’t see a cell phone, you’ve seen the driver’s mouth moving and hands gesticulating wildly. Is that person paying attention to the road?
We are divided and further subdivided by simultaneously doing all these things. Consequently, we are less present in our environments. Some write of the phenomenon, increasingly common, of “absent presence.” A man utters sounds into the air as he walks through the mall. He is using his handless cell phone. He is somewhere else while here (at least physically). We are in cyberspace and in our study and in a conversation (so-called) with our spouse.
The researchers at Vanderbilt confirmed that performing two tasks at once adds a second of delay when compared to doing each task separately. A one-second delay at 60 mph could be fatal. So beware of multitasking while driving, even if your car has hands-free cell phone technology.
We all know how relentless communications technology can be. You are at the office completing a report with a looming deadline. Your desktop computer beeps regularly alerting you to incoming e-mail. Your office phone must be answered when you glance at the LCD display and see it’s your boss. That means tearing out your earbuds and missing that killer Radiohead track. Oh, your significant other is texting you, and your broker has a “can’t-miss” stock that’s flashing on your Blackberry. Just what effect do all these distractions have?
According to a study involving Microsoft employees, it took an average of 15 minutes to return to serious mental tasks such as writing reports, tweaking computer code or setting up a spreadsheet after responding to e-mail, phone calls and instant messages. Many of these “distractions” sent the recipient off on tasks related to the interrupting messages before they returned to the original work at hand. The impact on your personal productivity is hard to measure, but it certainly takes a toll. Ever wonder why you are so tired when returning home from a “routine” day at the office?
You say you “get the message” about the impact of multitasking at work and its potential danger while driving, but what about multitasking while you are on “personal time?” Chances are you are spending increasing time in cyberspace than in reality. What’s more, technology may very well be getting in the way of your interpersonal relationships. How often do you “converse” with someone while immersed in music on your MP3 player or reading the text message that just showed up on your cell phone? Worse, you take a phone call when you are with someone. Can you really be listening to a friend, considering what your friend is saying and responding with a thoughtful idea while you are minding your messages? Doesn’t that say, “You aren't that important, even though I'm sitting right here with you?"
Such behavior would have been considered rude just a few years ago, but now it simply is how it goes. How about unplugging and focusing on a single person, face-to-face or studying class materials with the intensity that leads to retention? Perhaps we need to talk to someone on the phone and not listen to music while talking, not type an e-mail while listening, not exercise while listening.
Beware of multitasking! You may be a prisoner of cyberspace and not realize it. Off is in! On is out!
