Multitasking - Not!
By Linda Fayerweather
In 1740, 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."
Repeatedly, science has shown that multitasking does not save time, in
fact it can make you stupid! A Wall Street Journal article from 2003 titled the
Pitfalls
of Doing Too Much at Once to an August INC magazine article titled Multitasking
is Making You Stupid.
We would all agree, that texting while driving is a big no-no. But what
about reading while riding the exercise bike? Or listening to music or the
radio while driving? Or cooking dinner with a baby on your hip? Here is where I
draw the line on what is OK multitasking and what is not. Our brains can only
preform one higher level task at a time. The higher level tasks or functions
require attention and focus, the lower level tasks are routine and often repetitive.
When we try to preform two higher level tasks it is like trying to watch two
different tennis matches at the same time - you are going to miss something.
This is also why texting and driving is so deadly - two higher level tasks that
cannot co-exist.
