Multitasking

This post was adapted from something that I had previously written.

When you look at multitasking on the most basic level, it’s mandatory for our survival. Your brain must ensure that you are breathing and your heart is beating. Usually, multitasking refers to engaging in multiple conscious activities simultaneously, but a better example might be walking and chewing gum.

We have heard so much about multitasking in recent years that the concept has been misinterpreted. Walking and chewing gum work well together, but some activities simply do not. Usually, our idea of multitasking has us inefficiently switching between two unrelated tasks.

I have been told that I pace a lot. Why do I do this? It’s because I frequently engage in deep thought. I view boredom as a result of mental inactivity. While thought is a good mental activity, the part of my brain that deals with physical activity can become inactive. In other words, I need something physical to complement my mental process. This is a valid form of multitasking.

What if I tried to write a blog post while being engrossed in unrelated thought? It simply wouldn’t work. The blog post would break up my thought process, and my thoughts would ultimately be poorly formed. Deep thinking and writing text are high-focus activities. These activities essentially monopolize the conscious part of our minds.

In recent years, we have seen how talking on a cellular phone and driving don’t mix. The phone conversation takes on a role as a high focus activity. This takes away focus from driving. Drivers in these situations are not nearly as aware of the current situation as they need to be. Ultimately, they have reduced control of their cars.

To make matters worse, they have to shift their focus back and forth. While they generally maintain enough of a focus on their conversation to know what’s being discussed, changes in the situation on the road require their brains to refocus. This creates a delay that slows down reaction times. Even if you think that you can handle talking on the phone while driving, the real problems reveal themselves in emergency situations. In a life-or-death scenario, your handling of everyday situations becomes irrelevant. Thinking that you are the exception to the rule should not justify putting the lives of others at risk.

I have also heard stories of pedestrians who send text messages while walking. Supposedly, some people will walk into phone poles because they think that they can multitask. This is a slightly different situation than talking on the phone while driving. Most people can focus their minds on texting while they walk. They can’t, however, focus their eyes on their phones and the path in front of them simultaneously. While peripheral vision can help, it’s not always enough.

If you have paid enough attention to what I have written in the past, you may be aware of a similar task that I have been guilty of. I have been taking notes while I go for my frequent walks. I am aware of the risks, and I try to take precautions against anything significant. I wait for an unobstructed path in front of me. If I have to deal with others who might make mistakes, I will not make myself vulnerable. I slow down. I write very few letters between glances forward.

Going back to drivers talking on the cell, my note taking is insignificant. If I make a mistake, I’m not putting anyone else’s life on the line. The same can be said for those walking into telephone poles. Additionally, I take precautions. I would think that a driver trying to be safe during a phone conversation would need to slow down to 5 miles per hour in a straight stretch of road with no pedestrians or other cars anywhere nearby. In that situation, the driver might be safe. Good luck to anyone looking for a safe opportunity on the road to gossip.

Enough of the over-rated public world. Issues with multitasking can arise at any time. Reading is a high-focus activity. Additionally, you have to remain still enough to make out the words. This means that even physical activities don’t work well with the process. This is part of the reason that I absolutely hate reading books. They don’t give me enough to do, and that leads to boredom.

While a lot of people insist that television is bad because people don’t read enough anymore, I have never heard any legitimate argument that reading is actually better than watching television. I prefer television because it is a low-focus activity. I can enjoy it while focusing on something else.

I’m not alone. Police Squad lasted six episodes. One of the reasons they gave was that they used a lot of sight gags and didn’t include a laugh track. Viewers missed the jokes because they were doing something else while the show was on.

I was watching Pinky and the Brain when I originally wrote this. Of course, writing is a high-focus activity. I may not always be fully aware of what’s being said, but I can easily shift my focus for my favorite lines. Since I don’t enjoy writing, I get distracted easily. Ultimately, I take brief breaks in writing mid-paragraph, mid-sentence, and sometimes even mid-word. Since I hate reading, I don’t do a very good job of proofreading before posting my rants. This is one of the reasons that I view myself as a horrible writer.

I don’t always agree with others on what constitutes multitasking. Shifting your focus from one activity to another is at least inefficient. At most, shifting your focus irresponsibly can be fatal. Once you understand what I actually mean by multitasking, it should come to no surprise that I love multitasking. That doesn’t mean that I support recklessness.