On Sunday, I posted the following note on my Twitter page: "Multitasking at its best (or worst): at my desk writing about religion in politics, listening to Meet the Press, watching NFL football."
I thought I was being über-productive. My op-ed on religion in politics has since been submitted (and accepted) for publication, President Clinton wowed me as usual during his appearance on Meet the Press, and my concurrent writing palliated some of my intense feelings of guilt for watching yet another football game despite having spent much of Saturday watching college football.
But it turns out, though, that I may have been selling myself short.
On today's edition of On Point with Tom Ashbrook, we learn that multitasking prevents tasks from "getting done well." Interesting.
Maybe I should stop multitasking. I suppose it might improve the quality of my output. But it certainly won't make me feel less guilty about spending an entire day watching football!
(As I type this, I am watching Countdown on MSNBC and listening to the Brian Kenny Show on ESPN radio. I wonder if this post would have been significantly better had I focused my energies on it, and it alone.)
(As I type this, I am watching Countdown on MSNBC and listening to the Brian Kenny Show on ESPN radio. I wonder if this post would have been significantly better had I focused my energies on it, and it alone.)
Good question! Multitasking actually makes more productive - I feel happier when working on a paper if I´m listening to a CD I enjoy, it makes me think that music inspires me. Multitasking also takes the feeling that I´m losing my time when working on a task that I do not enjoy - is it wrong that listening to music, or having TV on the back makes life less painful when marking exams?
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