The Myth Called Multi Tasking!
Scenario 1: Mobile phone in one hand, a random movie playing
in the background, the other hand busy breaking the chapatti into
pieces.
Scenario 2: Virtual meeting going on, a different (and
completely unrelated) Excel or PPT open, with you doing the occasional “hmmm”,
or the more professional “yes I agree” every 10 minutes or so.
These two and many more such scenarios are part of our daily
lives. Through the years we have (tried to) developed this
special power called as “Multi-Tasking”. The advent of mobile phones, easier
internet, and the ever-increasing distance between people (it was there in
pre-COVID times!) has made us all become expert multi-taskers.
Or so we feel.
Even with billions of neurons and an unfathomable neural
network, the brain can not multi-task. Essentially, the brain “switches” tasks-
our brain chooses which information to process. For example, while talking on
the phone and working on the computer at the same time, you essentially miss
out on what the other person was saying, as the brain prefers visual data more.
Due to this need to “multi-task”, our attention span has
gone down drastically. A small experiment proved the point to me. I still very
clearly remember all digits of the speed of light (299792458 m/s- showing off
here), but ask me to memorize a new contact number now, my hands immediately
reach out to my phone. Ironically, as soon as the daily chores begin (cutting
the vegetables, cleaning, etc.)my hands again reach out to the phone- hoping to
complete a new episode while going about the chores.
Image Courtesy:
So essentially, the result is a complete lack of efficiency
in both the things done-the vegetables don’t meet the WI (Wife index) of
acceptance, while some of the good lines of the show are completely missed. My
learning- very clearly is that there is nothing called multi-tasking.
What to do- you know the answer! Stop trying to multi-task
and do one thing at a time. For the professionals, try writing a mail without
looking at your phone. Try talking on your phone without looking at your mails.
You will have shorter phone calls and an emptier inbox. For people at home, you
will see a better and meaningful conversation with the other person or more
time for yourself!
Draw your boundaries- trust me, you will be more efficient
while doing single-tasking! We are programmed that way!
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