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Multitasking Makes You Stupid and Slow

Reverse Gear recommends a long and interesting article over at The Atlantic in which Walter Kirn talks about the scientific results that support his claim and his own experiences with multitasking: that it destroys our ability to focus. "Multitasking messes with the brain in several ways. At the most basic level, the mental balancing acts that it requires — the constant switching and pivoting — energize regions of the brain that specialize in visual processing and physical coordination and simultaneously appear to shortchange some of the higher areas related to memory and learning. We concentrate on the act of concentration at the expense of whatever it is that we're supposed to be concentrating on... studies find that multitasking boosts the level of stress-related hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline and wears down our systems through biochemical friction, prematurely aging us. In the short term, the confusion, fatigue, and chaos merely hamper our ability to focus and analyze, but in the long term, they may cause it to atrophy."

34 of 551 comments (clear)

  1. Re:I'd half agree by Skuldo · · Score: 5, Funny

    No my friend, you've always been, and always will be slow, stop fishing for excuses!

  2. the secret of Windows by downix · · Score: 2, Funny

    A ha, so that is how Microsoft managed to brainwash everyone into running Windows!

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    Karma Whoring for Fun and Profit.
  3. Fast lane. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    I wonder if this is what happened to the dinosaurs?

    1. Re:Fast lane. by ScrewMaster · · Score: 5, Funny

      Absolutely ... they were so focused on mating and finding food and stuff that they totally forgot to watch out for asteroids.

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      The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
  4. Multitasking? by kylben · · Score: 5, Funny
    What... wait... Multitasking? I'm sorry, what was that again...

    Oh, wait, hold on a minute... Hey! move it! the light's green, you jerkwad... That's it, right foot is the gas... Pay attention to what you're doing for once, huh? Jeez.

    OK, sorry, where were we?

    --
    Insightful and funny are really the same thing, except one has a punch line.
  5. Really by CHRONOSS2008 · · Score: 5, Funny

    I find my IQ of 159 to aid me in multi tasking like playing multiple ogame.org strategy games in differant alliances, and it keeps me sharp to keep doing many things. If i sit there and do nothing. I feel lazy, slow and ....well STUPID. Like i should be doing something. Who did htey test on this a bunch a retards?

    1. Re:Really by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      well, you could put that IQ of 159 to work on improving your punctuation skills.

    2. Re:Really by Locklin · · Score: 4, Funny

      Obviously the inconsistent capitalization, spelling, and punctuation in your article indicates that you posted while either multitasking, or showing off your high IQ by browsing /. with vi and wget.

      --
      "Knowledge is the only instrument of production that is not subject to diminishing returns" -Journal of Political Econom
    3. Re:Really by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Hopefully that guy will use his incredibly impressive cognitive skills to learn how to spell-check...

  6. I'd read the link... by computeruser · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... but the story looks too long and I know I'd lose focus. Computers have ruined my life and my brain. What's considered multi-tasking anyway. Listening to music and typing? is that too much?

  7. Multi-Tasking isn't possible by rwwyatt · · Score: 2, Funny

    Sure, I can try to watch concurrent porn videos at the same time as writing requirement specs, but I need both hands to type.

  8. Easy by Weaselmancer · · Score: 5, Funny

    The guy who modded that Flamebait was balancing his checkbook at the time.

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    Weaselmancer
    rediculous.
  9. Re:ok, the tags are officially annoying by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Duh, it's OBVIOUS that the sun generates energy when two or more atomic nuclei of one element fuse together to form an atomic nucleus of a new heavier element, releasing gamma ray photons which are then converted to other forms of electromagnetic energy, including visible light, by the time they reach the Sun's outer layers.

    Slashdot drinking game: Whenever someone responds to a scientific research article they KNEW THAT ALL ALONG, take a drink. Take another drink for moldy Simpsons/Futurama jokes.

  10. Re:True... for everyone but you of course by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny
    I don't know about you, but I really can walk and chew gum at the same time.

    It's a shame you can't manage to RTFA at the same time.

    Consider a recent experiment at UCLA, where researchers asked a group of 20-somethings to sort index cards in two trials, once in silence and once while simultaneously listening for specific tones in a series of randomly presented sounds. The subjects' brains coped with the additional task by shifting responsibility from the hippocampus--which stores and recalls information--to the striatum, which takes care of rote, repetitive activities. Thanks to this switch, the subjects managed to sort the cards just as well with the musical distraction--but they had a much harder time remembering what, exactly, they'd been sorting once the experiment was over.

  11. Re:True... for everyone but you of course by TheSkyIsPurple · · Score: 2, Funny

    No, no, you have it wrong.

    20% of the statistics are quoted 80% of the time.

  12. Re:Funny... by bky1701 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Not me. I multi-task all the time, and finish everything I start. Just proof this

  13. Oblig. by The+Orange+Mage · · Score: 5, Funny

    I always ask my students, "What will you do with the abilities and opportunities you are given?" The same thing we do every night, Pinky. Try to take over the world!
  14. I Multitask just fine! by ArhcAngel · · Score: 4, Funny

    I guess I'm the exc

    --
    "A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." - K
    1. Re:I Multitask just fine! by ArhcAngel · · Score: 4, Funny

      eption to the r

      --
      "A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." - K
    2. Re:I Multitask just fine! by ArhcAngel · · Score: 4, Funny

      ule

      --
      "A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." - K
  15. Re:The Brain Uses the Cerebellum to Multitask by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Only the most primitive animals lack a cerebellum.
    I was with you until this line, but I don't see why you bring the music industry into this...
  16. Re:I'd half agree by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    It was the first post, so he is faster then you.

  17. Always Wondered by Derosian · · Score: 2, Funny

    Always wondered why they said women were so good at multitasking.

  18. Re:True... for everyone but you of course by PachmanP · · Score: 2, Funny

    I have rectuscatchum disorder you insensitive clod!

    --
    You're thinking small. Why miniaturize the laser, when we could instead enlarge the sharks? -John Searle
  19. Re:True... for everyone but you of course by anagama · · Score: 4, Funny

    That ain't nothin'. Once I was passed on the right by full size Suburban -- I looked over and the lady was folding laundry.

    --
    What changed under Obama? Nothing Good
  20. Re:I'd half agree by notnAP · · Score: 4, Funny

    Not only that, but with a /. UID of 88804 versus 849919, he was a hell of a bunch quicker onto the site, too.

  21. Re:I'd half agree by voidref · · Score: 5, Funny

    In my day, computers ran windows, and they could hardly do more than one thing at a time!

  22. Re:I'd half agree by dave87656 · · Score: 5, Funny

    In my day, computers ran windows, and they could hardly do more than one thing at a time! Now Windows can do multiple things at a time and look what happened to it. This clearly supports the article's contention that multitasking makes you slow and stupid.
  23. Re:I'd half agree by Marcos+Eliziario · · Score: 4, Funny

    Im my day, computers ran DOS, so we could ran only half one thing at a time, where the other half was an overlay.

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  24. Re:The Brain Uses the Cerebellum to Multitask by secretwhistle · · Score: 2, Funny

    When I stop thinking and just let my hands do their own thing, they move people to tears.
    Or to lawsuits.
  25. Re:The Brain Uses the Cerebellum to Multitask by badran · · Score: 1, Funny

    Same with Perl, I let my fingers do their job without ever trying to look or understand the code later on....

  26. Re:The Brain Uses the Cerebellum to Multitask by mortonda · · Score: 5, Funny

    When I stop thinking and just let my hands do their own thing, they move people to tears. Those aren't tears of joy... ;)
  27. Re:Multi-Tasking Addiction by fellip_nectar · · Score: 5, Funny

    One guy at work has a TV running 24-7 just to keep him less bored.

    But he...he was told that he could watch the television at a reasonable volume... Well, he...he...he told Bill that if... if Sandra's going to listen to her headphones while she's...while she's filing, then he should be able to watch the television while he's collating... so I don't see why he should have to turn off the television, because he enjoys watching at a reasonable volume. and according to...

    --
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  28. Re:I'd half agree by theonetruekeebler · · Score: 4, Funny
    They computer may have been doing half a thing, but I was always doing two:
    1. Try to use the computer, and
    2. Pray to God.

    Now I juggle constantly between Linux, Tru64, Windows XP, and OS/X, and my theological outlook has changed significantly: now I

    1. Try to use the computer, and
    2. Curse God.
    --
    This is not my sandwich.