Multi-tasking: helpful or hurtful?

Usually when we multi-task, we feel very productive because we think that we’re saving time and “killing two birds with one stone.” However yesterday The New York Times ran an article (here) about multi-tasking that suggests multi-tasking isn’t as great as we think it is.

According to the article, productivity significantly decreased in adults who were multitasking. As Dr. Christakis put it, “The truth is you don’t really multitask, you just think you do; the brain can’t process two high-level cognitive things.”  In other words, when we multi-task we are doing each task less competantly and less efficiently than we would if we were focussing solely on that task. So instead of doing one task quickly and then another task quickly, we are really doing both tasks more slowly and carelessly. When you think about it, it makes a lot of sense. How many times have you put your keys or glasses down while talking on the phone only to find that you have no idea where you put them?

But the article goes on to say that multitasking may not actually be a problem for the generation that has grown up texting-while-walking, and that all that extra media stimulation has likely made for greater mental dexterity. As Dr. Christakis puts it, “Parents are digital immigrants; children are digital natives.”

Read the article and let us know what you think!

Could the constant texting/calling/surfing-the-web be beneficial to younger generations, or do you think  it’s just a distraction, plain and simple?

Filed under: Boomers