Multitasking: Good Or Bad?

Clay shirky, a professor at NYU brings this matter to life through his article “Why I just asked my students to put their laptops away” provides us with a more in-depth look at this issue. Shirky states that “People often start multi-tasking because they believe it will help them get more done. Those gains never materialize; instead, efficiency is degraded. However, it provides emotional gratification as a side-effect.” Although the students are set out to improve using multi-tasking, shirky believes that they are in fact worsening with this view on

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.

In the essay “Multitasking can make you lose … Um … Focus” Alina Tugend exams why multitasking can make you lose focus. Tugend explains what multitasking is in the first section she also explains why it is bad. She then brings in a professor to explain how multitasking works in a scientific way. Alina Tugend then uses case studies to show how multitasking can cause loss of focus and impairment in motor activities. She then shows how multitasking can actually delay your progress on completing projects by constantly switching to different tasks. Tugend then sums it all up by trying to teach us how to better ourselves and to not multitask.

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.

Lack of comprehension and poor course work will result in a lower grade average. Students may become frustrated and give up easily.

In our busy lives, multitasking has become a normal day-to-day activity. In the twenty-first century, the ability to do multiple things simultaneously has become a valuable asset and is viewed as an essential skill by many. However, does multitasking negatively affect the outcome of your task? The practice of doing multiple things at once is detrimental to your efficiency, attentiveness, focus, and detracts from your ability to execute your task well.

After all, if a person was to learn about or concentrate on a different subject every few minutes, it would be nearly impossible to retain and remember the information. As one study discovered, "multitasking adversely affects how you learn. Even if you learn while multitasking, that learning is less flexible and more specialized, so you cannot retrieve the information as easily (Rosen 412)." Most people who multitask become so distracted by the amount of information they are trying to obtain at one time that it is actually causing the opposite effect. Multitasking makes it harder to distinguish the difference or importance between individual tasks. This means that many people either dismiss all the information gain as redundant or clump all knowledge, unnecessary and essential, together.

Sarah D. Sparks wrote an interesting article in “Education Week,” that shows that multitasking is not an activity that reflects great results for most people. Sparks learned from Larry D. Rosen’s study that 13 to 18 year olds use an average of four to six types of technology simultaneously while they are not in school. Did you know when people multitask they never actually fully focus on anything? For people to do multiple things at once, it actually takes them longer to complete each task than if they did them one at a time. If someone has to make a decision, there will be a delay in their thinking process. In Sarah D. Sparks’ article, she refers to Steven G. Yantis’s research that explained that people who multitask actually perform lower on memory and attention tests than people who did not. This is due to them focusing more on their distractions. The effect of

When multitasking initially I think it is helping me, however I’m not truly accomplishing anything to my fullest potential. Working a full-time job, being enrolled in college full-time, and being a mother I know I am multitasking daily, in order to accomplish a million tasks at once. Often I find myself brushing my teeth while showering, and cooking while doing laundry. As a result of multitasking, I have burnt dinner, and turned a white shirt pink. Looking back, I can’t help but ask myself if trying to accomplish all these things at once is efficient or if I would have been more productive to focus on one thing at a time. I have noticed that when I take on too many things at one time I become very stressed. In an online article composed by Forbes magazine it stated that, According, to a study conducted at the University of London, researcher’s “found that participants who multitasked during cognitive tasks experienced IQ score declines that were similar to what they’d expect if they had smoked marijuana or stayed up all night.” This study confirms that multitasking is slowing us down and is not beneficial. If studies prove it is slowing us down, then why do we still take part in multitasking? The efficiency of multitasking ultimately depends on what kinds of tasks that you are trying to accomplish, and to what degree of importance these

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.

Multitasking is a common technique used by most people that is thought to be a way of getting tasks done quicker. With the need for speed in today’s society there is more that has to be done in a minimal time. But what people do not realize is that when they cram their work into a limited amount of time, it can backfire altogether. Within this paper will be an explanation of the negative side effects that may come with multitasking such as stress, physical health problems, and frequently making mistakes.

Sana, Weston, & Cepeda (2013), Laptop multitasking hinders learning for both users and nearby peers. Computers & Education 62 (2013): 24-31.

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

Hook: Everyone thinks that multitasking is good for the brain and that everyone should want that skill. Well unfortunately studies proven by scientist at the institute in Paris Santé et de la Recherche Médication found that the brain splits into two, basically splitting the attention. It was said that at the most someone can do two things at once depending on the ease of the tasks. The reason being for this is due to the two frontal lobes of the brain designed to help someone with tasks.

Through extensive research we are now able to see that multitasking is not an effective learning method, but is a bad thing to do.