Hi Class,
I decided to read the Point/Counterpoint article in the
latest issue of ISTE’s magazine (March/April 2012). The topic, Multitasking, particularly caught
my eye because it is something I am horrible at! I was curious to see what “the authorities”
had to say on it, and to some degree, I was hoping to stroke my bruised un-multitasking
ego a bit with reading the Bane response.
In the end I actually appreciated both the Boon and Bane
responses. Chris Stefanski, who wrote
the Boon section, made some good points about the need for us to develop our
multitasking abilities. I hadn’t thought
much about actively training and developing my multitasking abilities
previously. In fact, I figured I was
just mono-tasking person by genetics. It’s
true that life in general, and our future jobs, in particular, are places where
we will need to have a strong ability to jump from one task to another and then
back again. It’s a luxury to be able to
do each task in a linear fashion, so developing an organizational system and
some mental flexibility could help mono-taskers like me cope with the real
world.
The Bane response was given by Dennis McElroy, who did
manage to stroke my ego a bit by stating the simple fact that human brains just
aren’t designed to tackle multiple tasks at one time. The key seemed to lie in the complexity and
magnitude of the tasks. Few people can
do several complex tasks at one time or even do one complex task while being
distracted by powerful noises, aromas, or visuals. However, doing one complex task with minor
background stimulants can actually be beneficial.
It seems like the key is to be well organized, exercise your
ability to switch from task to task and back again, and use background
stimulants to aid but not overpower. Then
we can try to get things done and not just have a heap of half-hearted and
partially completed multi-tasked tasks!
Melissa
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