Following Up: A Mistaken Quote; That New Device; and Multitasking
Friday, January 29, 2010
It's not just Friday, it's follow-up Friday. First, we correct a mis-attributed quote. Then, how people from around the country may pronounce the new Apple device. And, Winifred Gallagher, author of Rapt: Attention and the Focused Life, looks a little deeper into questions of multitasking and cognition. Is multitasking a zero-sum game where one task always detracts from another, or are there different types of tasks that require different levels of engagement?
Comments [10]
I wonder what is happening to our vision, and especially children's vision. Sure the brain can multi-task, but little muscles around the eye must be asked to work harder when faced in front of all this technology. Sure we are reading more, but the screens are getting smaller. To squint or not to squint? I guess that is the new question.
Good segment, i'm listening to your show, reading on the net, and working. well i'm not working too hard at the moment ;)
Too bad too many employers privilege multi-tasking skills almost to the exclusion of solo-tasking.
One problem is the lumping together of previously separate tools into one device. For example, I wouldn't call listening to music a "task," and in decades past, one would listen to music on a stereo somewhere in the room separate from whatever task one was doing. Now, listening to music requires using a "tasking" device (computer, iPod, etc.) that also has messaging, email, the internet, games, etc.
Interpreting simultaneously like they do at the UN or a conference between the leaders of two nations. I tried it. It's incredibly difficult. I only caught maybe 1/3 of the conversation.
Brian, let her finish her sentences, without interrupting her. She has important stuff to say!
I practice a musical instrument (the piano) while I listen to wnyc in the background- am I wasting my time? Is the radio keeping me from tuning into and focusing on the music? I don't really "listen", it's more like I drift in and out-
Thanks!
NO! You can't IM while doing other things. It's obnoxious and ineffective. You are cheating all parties of a productive, valuable experience.
My Grandmother could read and knit at the same time... no problem.
more free air time for apple. thanks
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