Media Multitasking Is Bad

In today’s society video games have a large influence on people. We also might be driven to the point of where we are dependent on them. In fact, being so engulfed in video games could help children become more focused.In fact, parents would probably disagree and say that video games wouldn’t be essential to learning because it would probably be considered a waste of time for children and time-consuming. Parents would also disagree with the content of what is in the game, but there is a great possibility that video games could actually make us smarter. Steven Johnson explains that the games we are used to playing can improve our visual intelligence and that it would be good to learn new strategies through gaming. Video games should be an

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.

Although a lot of it may seem to be positive advancement and nothing but an advancement, there are always underlying concerns that should, per the author, be addressed. The author explores the issues hiding behind digital entertainment and multitasking, with a focus on the ferocity of the dangers (which range from inconvenience to large amounts of death). The author wants to argue that recent technological advancements in entertainment are a double edged-sword and have been proven to carry with them a large set of negative implications. Although no thesis statement was expressly stated, an implied thesis might be, “Modern entertainment mediums bring with them a multitude of negative neurological and sociological implications that society needs to consider and address.” The author seems to assume that almost everyone who uses fast entertainment also engages in multitasking, which is already known to lead to a variety of negative consequences. This perspective only amplifies the apparent ferocity of the situation. This piece is written in a very one-sided fashion and opts to include no counter-arguments (presumably to tighten the focus on why this topic is such an issue). The author relates multiple examples throughout the text to larger ideas, such as the fact that one billion applications were downloaded on iPhone devices

In Alina Tugend’s article “Multitasking Can Make You Lose…Um…Focus,” the author discusses the dangers of attempting to multitask. Life in the twenty-first century tends to be fast paced which is one of the reasons why there is so much multitasking. Because we want everything fast, we try to get as many things accomplished in the shortest amount of time. According to “The Cost of Interrupted Work: More Speed and Stress,” a study that from April of 2007, while multitasking one is not able to produce as much. University of California professor Gloria Marks noticed that multitasking resulted in higher stress levels, workload, frustration, and pressure; such factors may bring about results that are less than acceptable.

Studies are constantly being conducted by psychologists on the effects of multitasking and the majority of experiments have come to show that the act of multitasking is negative for our cognitive development. However, numerous

Teenagers tend to multitask all the time. It’s something that they do without even realizing. Parents should be informed that although they think this can affect students’ school work negatively, It may have more positive effects.

The purpose of the research article from the scholarly journal Childhood Education (2014) is to discuss the arguments currently surrounding the topic of media, technology, and screen time (MeTS) and its use with young children, and create an international dialogue on what steps should be taken in the future on how to responsibly use MeTS in a way that is productive and developmentally appropriate. The authors first discuss what global issues currently stand referring to MeTS, citing statistics of television, video game, and computer exposure among young children (children younger than 6). It is described that in the United States alone, “83% of children under 6 years old use…two hours with a television and DVD player, 1 hour with video

People like rewards and like to feel good. The authors explains that video games help with the natural reward circuitry in our brains that triggers the release dopamine. I agree with this statement because when I myself use the internet and video games and I do feel better overall when I beat something in one of my games. This shows that the internet helps us with our brain. When our brains release dopamine it make the person feel good about what they have done in that time period. Also another claim the author makes is that technology is really good for people with multi-tasking. Our brains are so complex that they do many things at the same time. Also, the author uses the word telescoping. Telescoping is a way of managing several objectives at the same time. In many ways this idea called telescoping helps us to do multiple things at the same time physically, mentally and emotionally. I agree that telescoping is an important thing and that it does help multi-tasking, because ever since I have used the internet and played games, I feel that I can do more than one thing at once. Such as homework, gaming and listening to music all at

Multitasking is becoming very significant on the workplace to complete the task in less time. In fact, some people believe that multitasking saves time and can be done at all together. On the other hand, some people think that it is a distracting activity which leads to a lack of concentration. According to David Silverman, “In Defense of Multitasking”, multitasking is “crucial to survival in today’s workplace” (522). However, I do not agree because multitasking reduces productivity, increases stress levels and it is, especially, problematic for students.

As technology continues to progress, the traditional pastimes of board games and hand cards have been largely replaced by modern video games. Attention has been brought to this with a 43% increase in the use of video games in the last few years and the percentage of college students who acknowledge themselves as regular video gamers at nearly 70% (Barlett et al., 2009). These statistics raise the question of what impact these visual games might be having on our cognitive processes. The two main executive control functions that are critical in playing video games include increased attention skills and problem solving. Video game players are thought to be better at these skills either through practice or self-selection (Barlett et

“High-school students who report spending more time playing video games or who report spending more money on video games had poorer grades in English classes” (Gentile, Lynch, Linder, Walsh 2). All young minds that play video games longer than the average time start to show a poor performance in school. These children start to think more about the video games they are watching and playing every day, rather than doing their homework and studying for tests.

Video game playing has exhibited positive effects on decision-making skills and multitasking. Researchers from the University of Rochester found that gamers who played action packed video games made decisions at a faster and more accurate rate than the average person. The researchers noted that gamers made decisions, “...25% faster than others without sacrificing accuracy,

When the term “video games” is mentioned, the mental image many may picture is most likely one of a teenage boy behind a television screen or monitor, engaging in an action packed animation that contains no benefit but of pleasure. For many years the idea of computerized gaming has been twisted and misunderstood for something it truly isn’t. The subject of discussion when the topic is usually brought about is typically about how video games are damaging our society and how the influence of some games have negatively impacted many and have indubitably brought about nothing but harm and violence due to the graphic content of some specific games, typically making that the image branded behind the idea of gaming. Could video games truly improve multitasking and problem solving skills? Truthfully, although video games and the effect on the human race have been misinterpreted as a brain deteriorating concept, many scientists and psychologists find that video games can actually have many benefits, even further proven that video games have the ability to actually teach and strengthen the effect of multitasking on the brain, with a long term effect of consistent results due to scientific studies taken.

Steven Johnson believes that today’s youth has a greater mental dexterity than those of previous generations. A reason for such, is simply video games. Thousands of children, teens, even young adults play video games for countless hours a day, and while it has been said that video games are bad for your brain, Steven Johnson has other ideas. “To understand why games might be good for the mind, begin by shedding the cliché that they are about improving hand-eye coordination and firing virtual weapons,” Johnson says, “Even a violent game like Grand Theft Auto involves networks of characters that the player must navigate and master, picking up clues and detecting patterns.” Video games, while on the surface appear to be violent, and harmful to the mind, can actually help to develop the mind. Those playing the game must think quickly, creatively, and intelligently, to unravel a clue, or pass through a difficult level. This generation may be considered the “dumbest one” by Mark Bauerlein’s standards, yet

Playing video games is among one of the favorite pastimes of many people around the world. Some play games to kill time with simple tasks found most commonly on the phone, while others play them to challenge their mind in the form of complex puzzles or to practice management skills, some play them to experience a sense of adventure that they just can’t find anywhere else, and many use them as a way to communicate or have fun with friends both near and far. Whatever the reason someone may have for playing video games, they may not think that games can have an effect on their brains. Some would say that playing video games can lead to negative effects such as harming the player’s cognitive skills or causing them to become much more violent than normal. Others would argue that playing video games quickens the minds of their players, leading to higher mental performance or an increased attention to detail. Thanks to this hotly debated controversy many studies have been conducted over the past years in order to settle the debate once and for all. So what effect can playing video games have on the cognitive skills of their players, and are these effects positive, negative, or somewhere in the middle?