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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."
Driving and talking on the phone. Obviously doing too much for the brain to handle.
Anyone else misread this? If the amount of computing power were shrinking, I'd say we're all doomed...
Karma: Bad (mostly due to all those "In Soviet Russia" jokes)
This is only anecdotal evidence, of course, but I have a lot of trouble concentrating on tasks other that coding or the like using a computer - essays spring to mind. /. springs to mind - I was able to concentrate on the task at hand much more effectively.
I actually cranked out a typewriter the other day to cut down on distractions, and I found it did work.
With no instant distractions -
Just do a search on +multitasking +productivity You'll find articles like this one: Study: Multitasking is counterproductive. (published in 2001)
Also Zen Buddhists have known this for a long time. In fact they claim that spending every day some time doing nothing (meditating) increases your productivity. See: Zen and the Art of Corporate Productivity
Hotspots and computing power have nothing to do with how unproductive people are. It's always been true that people with a task list need to organize it and focus on the current task at hand. The coming tasks will get their focus in turn, and worrying about them while working on something else causes you to forget steps, rush things out, and rush other people that might be associated with it (causing irritation ripples through time). The trick is getting other people who are unorganized and rushed into recognizing that you don't have time for their issue at this exact moment but they are in the queue. Realistic priorities must be respected: making everything priority 1 means nothing has priority over anything else, defeating the system. If things really were priority 1, that's a sure sign that things around you have broken down due to lack of resources and it's time to get out of that situation.
Technology like PDAs, most of which is now built into cell phones, can help by making a todo list, even if it is just a text file that you edit with a priority number. The rest is up to you to coordinate with fellow humans, and has nothing to do with technology. Most of us seem to lack those skills because you just don't get that sort of training in school.
"Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart, he dreams himself your master."