My partner is a born multitasker. I have watched her participate in three conversations with six people in three different languages simultaneously. She speaks seven languages fluently, is a Registered Nurse, a Hospice Nurse, a public speaker and educator, an American Herbalists Guild certified Herbalist, and The Medicine-Woman for The Teehahnahmah Indian Nation.

While I am perfectly happy not to talk on the cellphone while driving (if need be), I’m wondering in what way this is different from talking to a fellow passenger in your car while driving. Unenforcability notwithstanding, I doubt anyone would seriously try to convince drivers to stop chatting with passengers. Busdrivers, maybe, but not the rest of us.

If hands-free cellphone use is no different (and I welcome information to the contrary), then it’s a bit silly to go on about its dangers while ignoring all the non-telephonic chitchat that goes on in cars.

Pharma is a perfect example of that.

Being on methylphenidate (Ritalin) helps me focus on just one thing. The effects last only a few hours. What has also been useful is changing my pattern of computer use and setting aside more evenings where I won’t switch on the computer at all and crack open a book instead. Incidentally, thank you Tom for all the great authors you’ve had on recently.

In Chinese the term for being distracted literally means “dividing the heart” — I now try to keep my heart undivided as much as possible.

(I still multitask some…I walked the dogs and cooked lunch listening to this podcast. Those are tasks that don’t really use the same part of the brain, or so I tell myself. Of course, I overcooked the noodles. But that’s a cost I can live with.)

So for instance, there are certain repetitive tasks during which I end up working and concentrating better while listening to a podcast of this show, On Point. For instance cleaning up the kitchen or ironing. For such tasks if I choose to watch a movie and do such a task I know I will work slower, but if I am listening to On Point I am pretty confident I am working faster then when I have no distraction to keep me moving. On the other hand there are certain tasks that require 100% of my concentration and at which I could not possibly do anything else except the task at hand.

So one question is perhaps at what point is there overload? I dare to suggest that as you get older people are more able to realize what is too much. This isn’t to say that perhaps younger people can concentrate on more things at once– just that they are trying to do more than they can.

As always– great show and a clean kitchen, Thanks!

A great number of job ads now have the ability to multitask as one of the explicitly stated requirements. This plague of being expected to do five things at the same time is becoming impossible to avoid.

A few people mentioned that they listen to NPR while working. I don’t understand how you can do this at all. While I always listen to music while working I absolutely can’t concentrate when listening to talk radio. Music is just a nice background noise that actually helps me concentrate as it blocks out the surrounding environment. Listening to someone talk requires real attention so unless you’re doing a very mundane task which requires zero thinking you simply can’t work and listen to talk radio at the same time. Either you’re not really listening or you’re not really working.

Working 70 hours a week while feeling that you still have to constantly multitask to have time to do something as basic as sleeping is no way to live. This kind of absolutely insane lifestyle (that we all now feel the pressure to live) is what results in unhappiness and depression. That’s why most of America is on psych drugs. It’s just a stupid way to live. There’s only so much you can cram in a day. Where’s the limit?

Lastly, it’s amazing to me how different Europeans are from Americans. I find them to be far more thoughtful and knowledgeable with great perspective on many subjects. They often display real depth in knowledge and thought. Perhaps it’s because their lifestyle allows them to take time to process things instead of superficially skipping around like most Americans.

In my work I have to constantly correct the most basic, stupid mistakes that people make. Often it’s not because these are stupid people, but simply because they’re not paying attention to what they’re doing. They often praise me for having an eye for catching things and being detail oriented, but it’s simply because I actually try to focus on what I’m doing.

I know that I’m not good at multitasking even when it comes to leisure. If I’m trying to watch a game while doing something on my laptop I catch myself barely remembering what happened in it and I get maybe 10% of enjoyment out of it as opposed to watching it without distractions. My whole perception of the game is different. Often I wonder if people writing comments about some particular game watched the same thing I did because their perception of reality is so skewed. I would venture to guess that it’s mostly due to the fact that they were doing other things at the same time.

Talking to anyone addicted to multitasking is impossible and extremely annoying. They’re not even aware that they’re obviously not paying any attention to what the person in front of them is saying. They pay far more attention to their stupid Blackberry than a real live person.

Finally, the young girl on the show exhibits the typical annoying attitude of many people today. Instead of listening to and accepting scientific proof she’s simply getting emotional about it and taking it as an offense.

There’s no logic at all to her arguments. You can’t will yourself to be good at doing three things at the same time anymore than you can will your computer to run 10 applications at the same time as well as it runs one. That’s actually a very good analogy. Our brain, just like a computer processor, has a certain capacity. When that capacity is close to being exceeded it runs like crap and doesn’t do anything well.

Felipe may be off topic, but he IS on point!

If you continue the comment like this my guess is that onPoint staff will start deleting your comments and will eventually block you.

Don’t know what you stand for…. but go out that day when Richard Gage is on…. enjoy the bees and the trees. You don’t have to listen to OnPoint, everyday.

Do you have anything to hide about the events of 9/11?

Please be more tolerant and learn how to get along with other people who love this country and may have different opinions (based on science) that are other than yours.

Ok, Buddy?

What we need are economies that can be part of nature!
http://www.synapse9.com/drafts/NaturalEcons.pdf

“Some ideas are deep, nuanced and complex enough so just getting the “gist” isn’t enough or may lead to a wrong conclusion.”

Exactly, Karin and Richard! As a defense, I find myself habitually dumbing down much of what I say or even write, in the realization that most people listen or read with half-attention, “skimming” to get the “gist”. I self-censor: no double negatives! no homonyms! no metaphors! Etc.

I don’t know how today’s young multi-taskers could possibly read and understand literature. Maybe they don’t. That would certainly explain the mundane “See Spot run” prose that predominates in the pages of the Boston Globe. In the recent past, before all the senior writers were bought out or let go, reading the Globe was an altogether different and much richer experience.