The Myth of Multitasking

The Myth of Multitasking: "Technology has so many advantages, but some devices that were designed to make us more productive, are now creating a new set of productivity problems. When laptops, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and cell phones are close by, attendees at workplace meetings struggle to keep their focus on the speaker. It’s just too compelling and easy to check email, text messages and surf the web instead. Of course these workers think that they are multitasking. But, when it comes to the brain ability to pay attention, the brain focuses on concepts sequentially and not on two things at once. In fact, the brain must disengage from one activity in order to engage in another. And it takes several tenths of a second for the brain to make this switch. As John Medina, author of “Brain Rules” says: “To put it bluntly, research shows that we can’t multitask. We are biologically incapable of processing attention-rich inputs simultaneously.” ( http://brainrules.blogspot.com/2008/03/brain-cannot-multitask_16.html)"