Habitual Multitaskers Do It Badly 386
iandoh writes "According to a group of Stanford researchers, people who frequently multitask don't pay attention, control their memory or switch from one job to another as well as those who prefer to complete one task at a time. In other words, multitaskers are bad at multitasking. The research team is also studying how to design computer voices for cars that result in safer driving."
Reader AliasMarlowe adds "The comparison involved multitasking with a number of attention or context related tests. For the study, multitasking was defined as consuming multiple media sources at once — gaming, TV, IM, email, etc. Interestingly, the habitual multitaskers were much worse at multitasking than the single taskers in these relatively straightforward tests. In self-assessment the multitaskers considered themselves good at it and the single taskers considered themselves bad at it. An extreme case of the Dunning-Kruger effect, perhaps, with consequences for business and society."
Bullshit... (Score:5, Funny)
... oh look, a butterfly!!!!!!
I think I have that bumper sticker (Score:3, Funny)
I think I have that bumper sticker on my...hang on, just let me check this e-mail...and get this call...
Re:Bullshit... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:tl;dr (Score:1, Funny)
I hate multitasking (Score:5, Funny)
I can involve myself in one high-level function and monitor several low-level functions no problem. If I'm cooking and it's a recipe I know, I can have something on the telly in the background. Certainly not a movie or something that requires 100% focus but I can put the Daily Show or Colbert on no problem, just glancing over during the laughs to catch the sight gag. If it's a recipe I'm unfamiliar with, I have to focus 100%, no time for distractions.
Driving is another interesting case. When I was first learning, I couldn't have the radio on or even talk with a passenger. It was a new skill and consumed 100% of my attention to a ridiculous degree. As I became more comfortable with driving, I could take a more relaxed approach. I can hold a conversation with a passenger. I'm still doing my sweeps, checking mirrors, instrument panel, paying attention to the feel of the road, listening for anything odd, but it takes less effort to do all these things. But when conditions become more interesting, it takes more effort to retain situational awareness. I'll lose track of the conversation. This is the opposite of the way most people do it, the conversation distracting from the driving.
As a mostly monotasker, I'm very skeptical of multitaskers, bordering on contemptuous. It really irks me when I'm trying to work with someone who insists on multitasking to the point where you keep having to repeat yourself because he wasn't fucking listening in the first place. "No, I heard what you said. Just repeat it so I can understand." It's a sick, pathetic, constant pattern. I tell someone x is followed by y and z. They hear x and immediately ask about c. Well, c could be related in some instances but I already told you in this instance it's x, then y, then z. But wait, why is y there? That's the sequence. And then after several more rounds the person will exclaim with a sudden revelation "Why, this is x, then y, then z!" Of course, you numpty pillock. I've only been trying to tell you that for the last ten minutes. I'm going to rip that fucking bluetooth out of your ear, yank the battery from your iphone (they are removable if you use enough force) and make you focus for a goddamn minute!
Re:Multitasking just has to be done properly (Score:5, Funny)
you know, that same computer INCAPABLE of real multitasking?
So a pair of conjoined twins is like a Core 2 Duo?
Re:When I multitask... (Score:5, Funny)
text while driving
Please watch this video [bbc.co.uk] and reconsider your habit of texting while driving.
I don't have time to look at it just now, but I'm usually bored while driving home, so I'll have a look then.
Originally had first post (Score:3, Funny)
Bah... (Score:3, Funny)
Not sure I want to make a T-shirt out of THAT expression.
Re:Multitasking (Score:3, Funny)
Re:From the people who brought us clippy (Score:4, Funny)
You've got a typo there. You said there were brains behind Clippy.
Re:I hate multitasking (Score:4, Funny)
[citation needed]
Re:Multitasking just has to be done properly (Score:2, Funny)
Re:From the people who brought us clippy (Score:3, Funny)
Clippy wasn't an inherently bad idea - an assistive agent which used a library of tasks to try to accelerate common jobs and act as an interactive tutorial with options to skip. The problem with Clippy was that the fine lines between "helpful", "too helpful", and "really freaking annoying" move around with increased stupidity - and stupid agents are all we have to work with until somebody figures out strong AI.
Agents like Clippy are used all the time to train people how to play video games - quite successfully in Valve's "Left 4 Dead," which remembers not only which tutorial elements you've already been fed but which ones it believes you have mastered (and does so with more than a little success).
I think my biggest problem with Clippy was that its heavy-lidded expression always seemed condescending and kept saying I was "trying" to do things. Hey, Mister, you look like you're trying to write a résumé but can't, because you're a failure. Want me to do it for you and produce something completely unusable?
Pah! Multitasking indeed. (Score:2, Funny)
Real men multi-thread
Re:Texting while driving (Score:3, Funny)
Mod parent up +1 understated
Kind of ironic (Score:4, Funny)
It's kind of ironic that the research team is also studying how to design computer voices for cars.
Re:When I multitask... (Score:3, Funny)
This is total crap! I'm posting this, changing the CD and driving right now! I can certainly
Re:Humans Can't Multitask (Score:1, Funny)
Speak for yourself, I spent years learning how make that nice long beeeep on the heart monitor just so I could freak the hell out of medics.
Re:When I multitask... (Score:2, Funny)
Some people can actually drive.
Maybe. But how many can text?
Best/Worst Semester Ever (Score:3, Funny)
I once took intermediate C++, Assembler, and Programming Languages(Pascal,Ada,Lisp,Prolog) in the same semester.
Sometimes late at night I would code in an odd mixture of languages/syntax.
I often wished it would work, but then I never tried in in a perl interpreter, so who knows.
Re:Multitasking just has to be done properly (Score:3, Funny)
No, that'd be the Athlon 64 x2. Because cojoined twins are HOT.
Re:Multitasking just has to be done properly (Score:3, Funny)
Real multitasking is being able to read while pouring a cup of tea. (for example)
I can multitask certain things. As a matter of fact, while I am typing this response, a coworker just stopped by to talk to me and I am listening to what they have to say. I can contnu tot ype this messge efectivley
Re:Texting while driving (Score:1, Funny)
I've never felt so much like cheering after reading a slashdot comment...