PBS offers two interesting videos about how technology is changing our lives: Growing Up Online and its sequel, Digital Nation. Both films prompt important and complex conversations surrounding technology, but I want to focus on multitasking for this post.
When I interviewed for my first publishing job out of college in Boston, one interviewer asked whether I was an accomplished multitasker. "Yes!" I exclaimed, mostly because I was 21 and thought that was the right answer.
But accomplished multitasking is really an achievement in mediocrity: divided attention produces fair-to-middling results. "Digital Nation" frames this conversation about multitasking around the wired world--texting, email, Facebook, and videos, all while sitting in class and listening to your professor--but I don't limit my skepticism of its efficacy to technology.
Sometimes I need to watch my toddler and make dinner at the same time. My focus is divided, though, and occasionally my dinner craftsmanship results in ordering pizza on those nights. Do you ever drive and text? Stop it. Stop it now; we won't even have that conversation. "Digital Nation" cites a statistic that texting while driving is more dangerous than drunk driving.
In the film, MIT students were confident in their abilities to multitask and remarked that their professors just didn't get it. A Stanford study found, however, that multitasking significantly impeded students' performances.
Successful multitasking has nothing to do with how smart a person is, and my harrumphing isn't meant to be a value judgment about anyone's intelligence. To complete high-level tasks, you need to focus. Sure, you may be able to categorize widgets while texting your friend. But you can't synthesize multiple sources while supporting a thesis AND watch YouTube videos of adorable pugs....You clicked on that link, didn't you? See, this is what I'm talking about. Focus! ;)
Teens in particular are at a disadvantage when it comes to multitasking. The pre-frontal cortex, the part of the brain necessary for executive function, doesn't fully develop until around age 24. Executive function involves decision-making, analyzing and applying information, planning, and budgeting time, to name some uses. This is why teens tend to be impulsive and take risks--their brains haven't developed the "stop-and-consider" warning yet. So kids are already playing without a full deck and then they try to multitask, which requires quick decision-making and constantly shifting focus. Really, multitasking is a disservice to students. They don't learn how to think deeply about a topic, connect details to the big picture, and invest energy into a project.
You know what's more valuable than multitasking? Prioritizing and time management. Yes, sometimes you may need to do two things at once. But understanding the hierarchy of what's important and the most effective ways to execute tasks will serve students well in the future. It's better to do a few things well rather than everything poorly.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/digitalnation/view/
Very well written. However, I am curious how you managed to type while thinking and looking at the screen? You are a excellent multitasker.
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree that any task that takes the focus of the driver off the road, is a dangerous task to add while driving, I must also point out that I do not believe texting and driving to be as bad as driving while secretly texting. What I mean by that is, that current laws are not getting people to stop texting and driving but instead people move the phone to their lap, out of the sit of cops. As compared with texting above the steering wheel where the eye can still peripherally see what is going on, by texting in the lap the driver losses all understanding of what is going on, on the road.