Walk down any busy street in America and you are likely to see people crossing the street while texting. In any break room, you’ll see people eating lunch while using their smart phones to check social media sites. In most offices, you’ll see people having phone conversations with colleagues or customers while simultaneously surfing the web or writing an email. Some might even have two different cell phones, one to each ear, while talking to yet a third person in person. (This is not an urban legend. I’ve witnessed it.)
Dubbed ‘multitasking’, the ability to do two or more things at the same time is considered a plus in many jobs and essential for some occupations. Indeed, many employers talk about multi-tasking like it’s a good thing. There are very few occupations where multi-tasking would be frowned upon. Perhaps brain surgeon or race car driver. Otherwise, the ability to juggle multiple projects, tasks, or even conversations simultaneously is regarded as increasingly valuable by employers. But is it truly a good thing? And is multitasking even real? Can the human brain really multi-task? If not, what is really going on when a person is doing two or three or four things at once? And how does this impact their productivity and precision?
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