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The Downside of 'Hypertasking'
Combuchan writes "An interesting article from AZ Central expounds upon the downside of 'hypertasking,' doing far too much at once, such as talking on the phone while doing office work at the Starbuck's has a whole host of negative side effects: irritability, impatience, sleeplessness, an overly extended workweek, and is largely unproductive. With wi-fi hotspots popping up everywhere and computing power shrinking, are we all doomed? Or, as the article indicates, it's possibily evolution of the mind at work."
Yeah. Definately leeds to anger and iratibility. And I'm not talking about the idiot on the phone.
People couldn't type. We realized: Death would eventually take care of this.
wait, my cell phone's ringing ...
...] "You've got mail!"
"Hello, er, hold on, my crackberry is buzzing"
[Check's ema,
You can hypertask fine as long as you're on internet time.
6 gmail invites are available by sending a message to the above address with the word 'slashdot' in the body...
:)
Was that moded insightful because it was really insightful or for the 6 gmail invites?
modder typing an email to ckwop:
"Dude, I just modded you up on slashdot, how about one o them gmail invites?"
While I agree with the article overall, their results are over-stated because, in my experience, the people foolish enough to do office work in a Starbucks while talking on their cellphones are also the type that have trouble walking and chewing gum at the same time as well.
I prefer hypershirking to hypertasking. That's where you know you have lots of work things to do, but you ignore them all in favor of more important personal tasks.
/. while making personal phone calls, listening to mp3s, and writing a poem for your girlfriend. Just remember to respond to work related voice-mail once a day so you don't get fired. Always complain about how much you have to do and try to look stressed. If you do that well, you can sometimes convince your coworkers to do your work. Since most spreadsheets don't have a "name" box, you get to take credit. Very effective.
For example, shopping online and reading
Hypertasking for All!
Booooooooo!
Alright the, Hypertasking for none!
Boooooooooo!
Very well, Hypertasking for some, miniature American flags for others
Yeaaaaaa!
$cat
I don't know about a cabin in the mountains, thats kind of expensive. For ~$7 US you can make a 24 oz Red Bull and Pepto Bismol shake (2 cans of red bull, 1 bottle of Pepto Bismol, vodka to taste)* and sip it all day while sitting on the toilet in a public restroom (free!) and working on your Wi-Fi enabled laptop (sadly, not free).
*this milkshake is not recommended for consumption by children under 10, adults, dogs, cats, gerbils, pre-teens, or teenagers. May cause unspecified cramping, swelling or acute ADHD of the butt. May cause testicular retraction, lactating, and uncontrollable vomiting. Studies on lab rats have shown links to cannabalism, twitching, lesions, goatse, and talking like a pirate. Not for internal use.
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I don't really think so.. See, I can't exactly see the evolutionary advantage in being able perform lots of work tasks at the same time. There isn't such a strong link between work performance and survival anymore.
Now.. a mutation enabling you to work, talk on the phone, and have sex at the same time, that would be an evolutionary advantage!
But I'll agree it'd be nice knowing these stress problems were only temporary.. solving themselves in a million years or so.
Indignant male driver reports:
"I was driving to work the other morning, when I looked over to the car in the next lane. There was this woman, going over the speed limit at least 70 miles an hour, with her face right up against the rear view mirror putting on her makeup.
"I looked away a moment, and when I looked back, she was still at it, and drifting into my lane. It scared me so bad I dropped my electric shaver. Trying to catch both it and my doughnut which I had been holding in my other hand, and while trying to straighten out the car with my knees on the steering wheel, I dropped my cell phone into my coffee, which I was holding between my legs, scalding my crotch and also losing a very important call.
"I somehow got control of the car, mopped up the coffee, brushed off the doughnut crumbs, got the shaver off the floor and dialed the person back that I had been talking with. When I looked over, there was that woman, oblivious to it all, now combing her hair and still crowding into my lane.
"Darned women drivers!!!"
As anyone who has played Starcraft while trying to keep your Mom thinking you're actually talking to her at the same time will testify, both tasks suffer.
First step: stop reading SlashDot. That would reclaim, what, about 5 hours/day?
"I have considered making a "DO NOT DISTURB" sign and putting it on the top edge of the cube wall."
People who just dont even get it when you're turning headphones up and pointedly ignore taps on the shoulder sometimes actually do pause for a second when you put up a sign.
But I'm starting to consider electrified concertina wire.