I read this article in my Homemaker's magazine and it really got me thinking. As a teacher, I find I am often guilty of trying to do too many things at once. With 9 different classes each day of 30 or more adolescent students demanding my attention and assistance all at once, multitasking is a fact of life. Add to this work and home responsibilities (children and a husband) as well as attempting to find personal time and meet social commitments and you realize there are not enough hours in the day to accomplish everything - not doing one task at a time. But is this really true?
Sure we can do some simple, routine tasks simultaneously with good result, but trying to do important things like driving while texting are not only difficult but dangerous. Tasks that are mentally challenging especially require our full attention. In fact, the term multitasking is a "myth". The article suggests that "task switching" would be a more appropriate term, causing delays in the completion of a goal or project. Not to mention that the concept of focusing on one particular task is increasingly difficult for my students who do not have the practice required to maintain this level of singular focus.
I tried the simple task test mentioned in this article (writing the alphabet and the numbers to 26, alternating between the two lists until completed) and found, indeed, that it took me twice as long to complete the assigned activities. Imagine how much time could be saved doing one thing at a time?
Of course, as I write this, I'm also watching my soap opera on T.V. Which proves the theory entirely. It's taken three times as long to write my post today and I'm still working on finishing the soap opera.
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