repost: The Myth of Multitasking – How to Break an Unproductive Habit | The BridgeMaker

…we end up losing a lot of time. Also, when we switch back to a task, we have to recap what we’ve just been doing, and so ‘multitasking’ involves redundancy. Dave Crenshaw, business coach and author of The Myth of Multitasking, has explored the phenomenon extensively, and writes, ‘You actually take much longer to accomplish things, make more mistakes and increase your stress,’

According to recent research at Stanford University, people who routinely multitask are poor at filtering out irrelevant information and have poorer short-term memory – in other words, at the skills necessary to ‘multitask’ successfully!

I don’t know- I wonder what came first- the chicken or the egg. My guess is that the multitasking approach is a style adopted by those who have ADD-like tendencies anyway, and who find this method of interaction more stimulating. It is like saying, “People who learn visually are at an advantage. If you learn better by listening, you need to break that habit.”- can’t be done, or if it can- what is the cost? In other words, interactive modalities may determine HOW we connect with the world around us, not the other way around

I need to read the book instead of the recap, I guess. I can fit it in on Wednesday, while I am cleaning the car.