Multitasking

[gothwalk]

Originally published at Now Is A Long Time Too. You can comment here or there.

There’s a fascinating article by Walter Kirn in November’s Atlantic Monthly, called The Autumn of the Multitaskers. It basically argues that trying to do multiple things at once is a fad of the current era, possibly caused and definitely accentuated by conceptualising the brain as a computer. And further, it seems it’s not good for you. There’s a level at which this appeals to me, because I’m very bad at multitasking. Unless I carefully prepare myself for it, I have difficulty switching from one task to another without a few seconds of blank staring in between. And if I do the preparation, then neither task is really done to the best of my ability.

There’s an argument that this is a problem most men have; women seem to multitask better. I can barely walk and engage in a sensible conversation at the same time; many women seem to be able to do both as well as, for instance, send a text message. I don’t know many men who can multitask well.

This is somewhat belied by the fact that as I write this, I have earphones on and am listening to my current favourite genre of epic metal music, and am holding two IM conversations at the same time. The music, however, isn’t really a distraction; it’s partly in use to block out surrounding conversation and noise from the workplace, and partly to make me comfortable - I’m not actively listening to it. The two IM conversations are about prosaic, day-to-day items in the workplace. Neither of them is requiring much from me other than quick bursts of information I have no trouble recalling.

Part of the Getting Things Done method that I’ve been trying, with some success, to stick with, is a principle that having other stuff in your head, background tasks, prevents you from getting on with the ones in hand. The solution there is to dump everything you can think of out to a set of lists, where you can come back to them later. In other words, you can concentrate better if you’re not multitasking.

In Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, the narrator is a bit horrified by a motorbike repair shop where it’s clear that the employees are doing more listening to the radio than concentrating on their work, with poor work being the result - and moreover, it’s poor work that they’re not aware of; they think they know what they’re doing, and doing a good job.

I don’t know if I believe that multitasking is bad for you, but it’s an interesting line of thinking.

Comments

[cissa.livejournal.com]

I used to be better at multitasking than I am now. So was J. I think part of it's age, honestly- as we've gotten older, we've both gotten worse at it.

We're rather an odd couple, though, because in many ways J is better at it than I am. Or, at least, he never found being interrupted as disruptive as I did and do. (But then, on web-based tests anyway, I'm somewhere into the autism spectrum, which I find interesting though do not really believe.)

Now, I AM still pretty good at the sort of multitasking that concentrates almost all my efforts on one thing but also leaves my ears open, say, for a kid or critter committing Evil. J just doesn't notice.

And I find that I also like more distraction when I'm doing something boring- I like music, say, to keep my mind entertained while my body does stuff like filing (either kind) or making Cat Fud.

[bluedevi.livejournal.com]

I would be happy to see the tide turn against the expectation that people should multitask all the time, because I suck at it. Really, really suck. I do my best work when I'm utterly focused on and lost in the thing I'm doing, but I need to have no interruptions in order to get there. And if I keep being interrupted I get really fucking irritable. (*goes "hmm" at puritybrown's comment above*)

I think that's why I'm pretty good at teaching and dreadful at office jobs. When I'm teaching a lesson I am absolutely teaching that lesson and forget about everything else (including life angst and drama), whereas if I'm at a desk and trying to do something fiddly and the phone keeps ringing - just - aaargh. Shredded nerves. Or else I go online and get the utter, utter focus on what I'm doing there and suddenly it's an hour later and my boss has been standing behind me for ten of those minutes watching me slack off :)

That said, if I'm doing a visual task I can handle some kinds of verbal input. I've discovered I like listening to comedy or spoken word when I'm painting or drawing. If it's people talking to me and requiring my response, though, not so good.

Anyway, me me me. I know what you mean about the music - it's input you can control, which doesn't require you to act on it, so it's fine.