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Multitasking Considered Detrimental
djvaselaar sends along an article from The New Atlantis that summarizes recent research indicating that multitasking may be detrimental to work and learning. It begins, "In one of the many letters he wrote to his son in the 1740s, Lord Chesterfield offered the following advice: 'There is time enough for everything in the course of the day, if you do but one thing at once, but there is not time enough in the year, if you will do two things at a time.' To Chesterfield, singular focus was not merely a practical way to structure one's time; it was a mark of intelligence... E-mails pouring in, cell phones ringing, televisions blaring, podcasts streaming--all this may become background noise, like the 'din of a foundry or factory' that [William] James observed workers could scarcely avoid at first, but which eventually became just another part of their daily routine. For the younger generation of multitaskers, the great electronic din is an expected part of everyday life. And given what neuroscience and anecdotal evidence have shown us, this state of constant intentional self-distraction could well be of profound detriment to individual and cultural well-being."
That's not multitasking: that's switching between tasks very slowly (unlike your processor which does it very fast). Multitasking is the equivalent of breathing and running (two or more things at the same time) - or having multiple processors in computer terms.
As said by Charles Emerson Winchester III:
"I do one thing, I do it well, and I move on."
What a great show MASH was. Sadly, judging by what's followed from the major networks in the years since, it seems to have been one of the last gasps of truly quality TV series.
Cheers!
Strat
Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
You raise an interesting point. TFA says "In one of the many letters he wrote to his son in the 1740s, Lord Chesterfield offered the following advice:
So, how the fsck could he have written to his son if his *first* son, who inherited the title, wasn't born until 15 years after that decade?
Meyer and Friedman called it part of the symptoms of the Type A Stress Syndrome. It's eventual result is coronary heart disease from plaques via ACTH secretion. It causes time-urgency and stress, and the fight/flight syndrome.
Multitasking is keenly sought because it also heightens brain activity, which some people crave. The downside is that it's really stressful, according to research done decades ago.
---- Teach Peace. It's Cheaper Than War.
If you follow TFA links (which includes the sneaky commission referral from newatlantis), it leads to a book on Amazon called "The 4 Hour Workweek".
If you travel that link and read the first review, it includes some very accurate information about this global outsourcing issue we're all facing as we try to cram even more work into a finite span of time:
Well put.
Me too! That is the biggest thing I miss from being single. Before I was married, I read about 1 book a month. Sometimes fiction, sometimes coding/programming, but still about one a month. And I could code at home. Now, seems like just as I'm starting to get into something it's, "Hey, honey? ?" And, since it's been almost 2 years since I was where she is in the game, I have to get up and go look to jog my memory. Fortunately, I just got a job promotion that moved me into a quiet, tech room (away from the call center I was in) so I do my reading at work between service calls. MTTI, amazing. At home, mine is about... 60 seconds. It's almost like she's afraid our connection will time out if I background her process.
"I have worked hard; anyone who works just as hard will go just as far." - JS Bach
...so he wasn't a complete genius.
I’m old enough to remember 16K of memory being described as “whopping”
I've worked in reasonably extreme examples of both kinds of environments:
The productivity and work efficiency in the second kind of environment is several times (3 times or more) higher than in the first.
This seems to be true not only for me, but also for my colleagues. Amongst other things, in noisy environments with frequent interruptions people seem to make more mistakes and be more likely to forget important things.
From what I've seen, the most extreme cases of multi-tasking (crack-berry users) are also the people most likely to forget important things while dealing with unimportant ones.
Wow... you really shoehorned that OT comment in sideways. Besides, "mulier taceat" is an incorrect interpretation, as Paul mentions earlier in 1 Cor 11 that women can pray (aloud) and prophesy. Paul is saying that women should refrain from chiming in while others are interpreting or otherwise speaking.
Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.