Well, that was the theory. Then researchers discovered that most people can't multi-task, or at least not effectively. You might think you're doing everything splendidly but in reality you're just muddling through.
I have to say I'm probably the world's worst multi-tasker. Give me two things to do at once and I'll botch both of them - gloriously. Expect me to have an intelligent conversation while I'm driving the car and without doubt I'll drive straight into the closest shopfront.
Expect me to answer the phone while I'm picking out items at the supermarket and you can be sure I'll forget who I'm talking to while simultaneously knocking fifty tins of baked beans off the nearest shelf. Which in itself is a deft piece of multi-tasking - but not the one intended.
I'm afflicted with absolutely single-minded concentration. I can focus superbly on one particular thing - to a degree that sometimes drives Jenny nuts. But if you ask me to spread my concentration a bit more widely, you're on to a loser. Something's got to give, and invariably it does. I catch sight of a fascinating article in the paper, settle down to read it, and instantly forget there's something in the oven.
The cliché has it that women are better at multi-tasking than men, but I'm not sure that's true. I think some people just happen to be better at it than others, whatever their sex. If such a thing really exists, that is.
Tell you what though - I can be obsequiously polite to someone while at the same time marvelling at their infinite stupidity. Does that count as multi-tasking?
I'm not great at it, either. I think I did it out of necessity when my kids were little.
ReplyDeleteBijoux: Mothers are expected to do any number of domestic tasks, so I guess some degree of multi tasking is inevitable.
DeleteI was amazing at it but didn't realize the gift until I saw a documentary years ago with an old woman talking about her life and wishing she'd been born a man. When questioned, she said she was so exhausted from having so many boxes open in her head ALL the time and men only had one.
ReplyDeleteSo I conducted a survey where I worked. And boy, was she bang on. The women had to deal with so much even outside of their jobs, teachers calling, arrangements for childcare, family arrangements, taxi service for elders and kids and on and on. The men? Just did their jobs and the odd time picked up milk. If they remembered.
I think it goes back to cave days, the men focussed on hunting, the women had husbandry, child care, laundry, maintenance and defence to take care of. At the same time.
XO
WWW
www: Your research seems to bear out the assumption that women have to become multi-taskers because of the umpteen things they're expected to do. I can understand the old woman's deep frustration.
DeleteNot sure it goes back to cave days. Isn't it just a long-standing pattern of male supremacy and men expecting women to take care of all the things they can't be bothered with?
I've tried to tell many of my patients that no one is very good at multitasking, but they never believe me. And you're right - women aren't any better at it than men, they are just forced to do it by the heavier domestic workload.
ReplyDeleteAgent: I suppose we all know people who seem to be excellent multi-taskers, but if you looked more closely you'd realise they weren't doing anything especially well.
DeleteI must have been born a zen monk.
ReplyDeletejust talking about it makes me tired. LOL!
Tammy: Me too. I see people who have dozens of things on the go, rushing from one to the other, and I wonder where on earth they get the energy.
DeleteThat's a talent that most people never develop. They just blankly stare at a stupid person or stammer at them in some equally stupid soliloquy.
ReplyDeleteMildred: I worked in many customer-service jobs, so I soon developed the ability to be scrupulously polite and give no sign of what I was really thinking.
DeleteI refuse, have always refused, to multi task...it is exploitation. I just plod on with what I am doing and then go to the next thing.
ReplyDeleteFly: Very sensible of you. Why should we have to rush around like blue-arsed flies trying to do six things at once? It can only end in tears.
ReplyDeleteMy SIL thinks she's good at multi-tasking. Which is why she often turns up in the wrong place for events and meals at her house are never served when she says they will be. I've learned to bring an appetizer so I can eat at the right time.
ReplyDeleteExactly. People might believe they're great multi-taskers but those of us on the receiving end might think rather differently.
DeleteInteresting remarks to read. The long and short of it is, men just don't and women do when they must. That pretty much sums up my experience. I do like to listen to books while I weave, and I must listen to them at least twice to capture the whole story.
ReplyDeleteJoanne: "Men just don't and women do when they must." That sums it up neatly. I've never tried audiobooks but perhaps I should do - just to see how they compare with reading.
DeleteI've read that some people, not very many, can really multitask. The rest are just fooling themselves. I prefer to immerse myself in one thing at a time. I still remember burning hard boiled eggs and not noticing the smell until it was overwhelming. My mother couldn't understand why I didn't notice it earlier since I was in the room at the time. Easy -- I was studying my Spanish and focusing. She thought it was horrible, but I was actually impressed. :D
ReplyDeleteJean: That could easily have happened to me. Especially as my sense of smell is very poor and I probably wouldn't have noticed the burning smell at all!
DeleteI am no better. I can't multitask if my life depended on it. I am strictly a one thing at a time fellow.
ReplyDeleteRamana: Join the club! Once I'm firmly focused on something, everything else disappears from my mind. It takes something quite dramatic to interrupt my single-mindedness.
DeleteI can do several minor things at once, that aren't taxing, such as write calligraphy whilst watching a film; but I can't do major things like drive a car and listen to anything - I know, weird.
ReplyDeleteSx
Ms Scarlet: That's not weird. It makes sense that you can't do two very demanding things at once (let alone three or four).
DeleteI could multi task quite well, but now I prefer to concentrate more on one thing at a time.
ReplyDeletePolly: You must have had a very clever brain that could handle several things quite easily!
DeleteNeeds must, Nick, needs must. One example that springs to mind was when the Angel was little. Very little. At the stage where a child is the universe of their world. So, say, I had a very interesting conversation with father of Angel when the Angel came to me with an immediate need. No probs (for me). Come back to the table. Husband/father of son irritated at interruption. Though he was in awe that I'd pick up, effortlessly, where we had left off - he never quite got it. Pity.
ReplyDeleteHaving said that, I do believe there are some tasks which do need focusing on, total concentration. However, when you have children - and it's no hardship - you learn how to accommodate both. It's a type of discipline. Not so much MULTI tasking as being able to run several strands of your life concurrently without letting one impact on the other. Takes patience - granted.
I do not wish to add to the gender divide though there is one: Men are terrible at having their attention divided. And so be it. It's fine. We shouldn't just acknowledge our own limitation, but live and accommodate those of others.
Yours, the Saint,
U
Ursula: "Not so much MULTI tasking as being able to run several strands of your life concurrently." An interesting distinction. I'm not sure I could do that either.
DeleteIf men are generally bad at having their attention divided, I doubt it's because they're male. More likely it's because they've been told from an early age that men are more single-minded than women. If they're told that often enough, that's what they'll become.