Is Multitasking Necessary? Does multitasking really help people get things done? According to Alina Tugend, a columnist for the New York Times and author of “Multitasking Can Make You Lose… Um… Focus” asserts that multitasking might seem to be saving time but, multitasking is actually causing people to be stressed and less efficient (725). As a result of multitasking, people overwork their mind and cannot focus on specific tasks at hand which puts people in a position of chaos. Multitasking serves as a distraction, not allowing a person to fully engage on a particular interest. Multitasking has negative effects on students’ performance in school. Easy access too many electronic devices is causing multitasking to become more apparent and …show more content…
Students who try an accomplish all of these activities at once become overwhelmed causing less productivity and stress. A study was conducted to test and examine the effect of multitasking on academic performance. The use of the internet, talking on the phone, watching TV, and listening to music were used to determine the results. “Finally, the study indicated that using the internet, talking on the phone and watching TV while doing an academic work had detrimental effects on academic works” (“The Effect of Multitasking”). Since the conclusion of this study has negative affects a person can only assume that multitasking in a classroom setting would lead to a lower grade, possibly cheating because the student does not know the answer, and the inability to learn information adequately. A student needs to learn how to balance out daily activities to maintain a less stressful and more productive environment. Access to electronic devices is becoming more apparent and inhibiting people from accomplishing work. Today’s world has become known as the digital revolution. Almost every store a person goes into contains a display promoting a new release of technology. The most common type of technology that has been made available is the smart phone. Smart phones have enabled millions of people to not only communicate but also
Multitasking is possible but you can only do two task because the other will be forgotten. This information answers the research question by saying that multitasking is possible and it affects you by letting you only do two task at the same time (at most) because if you do more than you will forget the rest. People can multitask but only two task at a time. According to the article, Multitasking Spits the Brain it states “ the brain can’t juggle more than two task because it only hemispheres available for management” (Telis, 2010). This means that the brain is only able to do at most two task because it is not able to manage more task at the same time. Also, this article also states “ the triple-task jugglers consistently forgot one of their
You've probably heard the latest studies that multitasking may not be as productive as people once thought it was. According to an article on Entrepreneur, our brains hone in on distractions. The brain grabs our attention because the distraction signals change and change can signal danger.
Multitasking, helpful or harmful? In Alina Tugend’s “Multitasking Can Make You Lose…Um…Focus”, Tugend explores multitasking in several ways. Explaining how we as humans sacrifice focus “shifting focus from task to task gives illusion that we’re simultaneously tasking”. Also, how our brains react to operating and trying to do more than one task at once. Only one or two visual stimulants can activate our neurons at one particular time. Lastly, how we can recreate boundaries and cope with everyday life and multitasking. Tugend reiterates several times the importance of one task at a time so we as humans can effectively complete tasks to the best of our abilities instead of giving partial focus and not efficiently completely a task. Multitasking is very beneficial at times, but more often there are significant downfalls; it is crucial we learn how to manage the downfalls of juggling tasks, events, conversations, and daily events.
Tugend starts her article off by exploring the fact that as we read this article we are more than likely already multitasking weather it be listening to music, texting, tv or even talking to kids! She then goes on to say why multitasking has been accepted since the 1990’s and has been thought to be saving time that neuroscientist have actually proven that multitasking can be less efficient and even cause us a great deal of stress. She uses Dr. Hallowell to emphasize that why multitasking can make tasks more fun that it will actually hinder are focus and but he does go on to say that depending on what function of the brain you are using it could induce or spark creativity. There is actually no such thing as multitasking one can not do two things at once one can simply divide there attention or rapidly switch back and forth from one task to
In “Multitasking Can Make You Lose...Um...Focus,” Alina Tugend examines the negative aspects and many disadvantages that occur through multitasking. Tugend begins by stating that multitasking is the norm for today’s fast paced society; however, in reality it is pulling focus from the task at hand. The author continues on to cite various researchers who express that the brain cannot simultaneously do two tasks at once and is actually just flipping back and forth between tasks rapidly. Although multitasking seems like a time efficient method, Tugend reveals, it is actually creating a large amount of stress and pressure on the individual. Furthermore, the author notes that multitasking actually pulls away from the task at hand creating a great time loss. Tugend even goes on to explain that multitasking is proving to be bad for innovation by not allowing an individual to think in depth about one task for an extended period of time. With Tugends article in mind I agree that multitasking puts a lot of stress and pressure on the individual, creates a loss in time, and is awful for innovation.
Doing difficult tasks at the same time can overwhelm our brain’s ability to process information, hurting the quality of our work. The author explains that “when we attempt demanding tasks simultaneously, we end up doing neither as well as we should because our brains have cognitive limits”. I think what the author means by cognitive means the brain’s process of thinking. What the author is trying to tell us, then, is that when we do too many things at once, our brain reaches its limit in its capacity to think and learn. When we multitask, our ability to learn, to understand, and to remember all get affected. We reach a point where our brain, literally, cannot keep going. That’s why knowing and studying the effects of multitasking are
Twenty-Five minutes. This is the time it takes for teens to circle back to an original task after multitasking. Multitasking is switching focus between different tasks in succession, but not what is commonly believed as dividing attention. Teenagers think that by multitasking they are saving time, but with this they sacrifice focus (Tugend). The world we live in is best described as hectic. Teenagers wake up and face a multitude of tasks they must complete each day. They feel the need to do many of these tasks at one time in order to accomplish them all. However, do teens know if multitasking is beneficial? In reality, it takes longer to accomplish tasks when doing several
Another consideration among researchers when looking at the effects of multitasking is that it actually has a positive effect on a small percentage of people that are known as supertaskers. There have been many studies done on the critical effects it has on the brain, but what good does it do? Hammond wrote an article on how normal people don’t get the same benefits as supertaskers have. Hammond reported that “even if you’re not a supertasker, multi-tasking by surfing the web at the same time as answering emails, playing computer games, or listening to music could bring another benefit” (4). She includes that “people who regularly used three or more different media at a time were better at integrating the information that came in through their
Before the current computers and smartphones were common place, the overall pace of life was much slower. In order to communicate people had to either write a letter or visit each other in person. As time went on, technology began to develop and allow for correspondence over greater distances in shorter amounts of time. This trend continued until it evolved into the fast paced, instant messaging society that now exists today. Effortless and instantaneous transmissions are now taken for granted and used nearly every waking hour of most people’s day for every task imaginable. Many jobs that previously allowed for focus on one or two activities at a time now require the worker to micro manage many tasks at once in addition to keeping up with frequent phone calls and emails. Information overload and other symptoms brought on due to multitasking are very real and prevalent issues in workplaces around the globe. Unfortunately, this problem will not be addressed until the current workplace logic is ironed out and its many flaws shown for what
Thus we can say that multitasking has negative effects because kids and adults can not last at least 10 minutes without checking their devices, and while students are doing work they need to concentrate really hard.Multitasking makes you less productive.This theory of multitasking is not good for the human
When I was reading the textbook, it came to my attention that adolescents have the ability to attend to more than one thing at a time which is called divided attention or multitasking. There are countless examples that we as parents have walked in our children's room to see them listening to music, watching Netflix or even texting their friends while they are studying. Then we wonder, do they really learn as much while multitasking or are they just wasting valuable study time? They cannot multitask and concentrate on their homework, but most of them still continue to do that. The study shows that teenagers spend more than 6.5 hours a day, not including school or homework and almost nine hours with media.
Becker, Alzahabi, and Hopwood (2013), assume that distractions—usually presented in the form of multitasking—can lead to missed information. In the current landscape of multitasking and task performance literature, there is a clearly defined relationship between missed information and task performance.
No one is really ever multitasking, you only think that you are, which is not really helping you. On average teenager between 13 and 18 us more than six type of media simultaneously. Most teens use social media because they fear missing out on something important. This has led to many students paying an attention partially to everything they do, which causes them to have trouble concentrating on anything deeply. A person’s brain cannot be in two places at one time. One cannot do two things at one time, it will just take longer to try to multitask. When a person tries to do more than one thing at a time, the brain is faced with a choice. The decision made causes a delayed second to choose which one you’re going to do. (Sparks)
4). It is very difficult to do “two complex tasks” at once (Paul 5). For instance, doing email and listening to the phone. These tasks diverts the mind due to which people do not focus properly on them and results in lower efficiency. Multitaskers omit much information and it takes time to refocus on both of them. Therefore, “Efficiency can drop by as much as 40%” (Atchly par. 2). Peter Bregman mentions that in the reality, “the more you multitask, the worse you are at it” (519). It means that multitasking decrease the ability to think and focus after switch task. Multitasking not only affects the quality of the work…, … it can affect the brain’s gray matter , which is associated with memory, decision making and more” (Vito par. 8). Hence, multiple tasks results in the poor productivity.
The development of technology has made students who multitask think that they are utilizing time more