Multitasking is an idea that many people believe saves time and helps complete tasks in a shorter amount of time. However, theory suggests that by doing the same type of multitasking tasks, it would be too strenuous to remember what you just did since both activities were almost the same. This research paper aims to evaluate how the same type of multitasking affects the memory of humans. Data from twenty-seven people were collected in which they had to perform two types of multitasking activities and take a test to see how much they could remember. Results show that most participants scored lower test scores on the audio multitasking test compared to the visual multitasking test and that the female participants obtained a test average higher than the male participants with the females scoring about 20% out of 100 higher than the males. Furthermore people find audio multitasking to be harder to process and remember what just happened compared to visual multitasking.
The effect of audio multitasking and visual multitasking on an individual's memory.
People often feel as if they don’t have much time. To solve this, many people multi-task to complete several tasks at once. The definition of multitasking by most people would be, “performing two or more tasks at once,” which is generally the idea. The definition of multitasking according to Merriam-Webster is the performance of multiple tasks at one time. Multitasking often is a complex process and can use different parts of the brain, for example, a telephone operator needs to be able to talk to a client while working on the computer and that requires the occipital and temporal lobe of the brain.
However, relatively little is known about multitasking, why people do it, and the eff...
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As human beings, it is becoming more of a second nature to us to multi-task. As the world is technologically advancing more and more every day, there are becoming more distractions. Social-media is flourishing, reality TV show ratings are going up, and humans even unintentionally check their phones every two minutes. In this day of age, multi-tasking is proving to promote inefficiency rather than productivity.
In the chapter “Attention Deficit: The Brain Syndrome of Our Era,” from The New Brain, written by Richard Restak, Restak makes some very good points on his view of multitasking and modern technology. He argues that multitasking is very inefficient and that our modern technology is making our minds weaker. Multitasking and modern technology is causing people to care too much what other people think of them, to not be able to focus on one topic, and to not be able to think for themselves.
In the article,“Multitasking is actually kind of a problem for kids and adults” by Hayley Tsukayama the author went into detail about how parents and their children view their personal media habits. One of the ways that the parents and children viewed their media habits as was feeling the need to respond to texts and notifications immediately. “More than 1,200 parents and teens surveyed, 48 percent of parents and 72 percent of teens said they felt the need to respond to texts and notifications immediately, almost guaranteeing distractions throughout the day” (Tsukayama). This article can be connected to “The Epidemic of Media Multitasking While Learning” both of the articles discussed the different factors of media multitasking among individuals. The article from The Washington Post website gave great insight on multitasking and rather it is bad for students when it comes to learning. I believe that the issue being discussed is very relevant because if students are easily distracted by technology while in their learning environment it results in them not learning
David Silverman provided four main reasons why multitasking can be a reliable source for doing many tasks at once. The first reason is multitasking can help a person collect pieces of information faster. Silverman used the example of him getting contact from a customer to make a slide, but wasn't available so his employee started on the slide. After reading his email, Silverman and his employee accomplish the slide within thirty minutes. This example shows how in a certain time a person can collect information quicker from doing another task. The second reason is multitasking can help a person from any distractions or interruptions from doing the tasks
Students may easily lose their attention and concentration with easy access to such incredibly rich store of information. With such new technologies as television, internet and social networks, people nowadays tend to multitask more often as they have easy access to a large amount of information. However, such easy access may sometimes be a distraction. Study “Your Brain on Computers” reports that heavy multitaskers perform up to 20% worse on most tests compared to performance of light multitaskers. Working efficiency of people, who multitask, is claimed to be significantly lower. The same is with concentration. (Crovitz 353) As a result, they are not engaged in working process. Students tend to be easily distr...
Technology is prevalent in our personal and professional lives. Everywhere we go; there are multiple screens and multiple distractions. How is productivity when being inundated with information and devices? There seems to be some bragging rights associated with multitasking, however many would argue the opposite. The following examines how multitasking negatively influences personal and professional productivity and how we should make changes to reduce digital distractions.
This study will look to identify whether age is a factor in the degree of distraction while driving for hearing impaired individuals. Previous research has looked into several influences on driving such as extent of hearing impairment (Hickson et al. 2010), dual sensory impairments in correlation with motor vehicle accidents (Green, McGwin, & Owsley, 2013), as well as the detection of warning sounds in vehicles (Slawinski & MacNeil, 2002). It is hypothesized that individuals that are older in age will be more susceptible to increased levels of distraction while driving due to findings from previous research. Provided by the general population of Georgia, the study will consist of 180 participants separated into three age groups in order to
Statistics show 16- to 17-year-old driver death rates increase with each additional passenger, which is due to distracted driving. Taking your eyes off the road for 2 (two) seconds, at 60 mph, means you have driven blindly for half the length of a football field. The risk of fatality is 3.6 times higher, when they are driving with passengers than when alone. For many years, the correlation between driving behavior and age has interested highway safety researchers and administrators. It is general knowledge that the greatest risk of motor vehicle crash...
In the article, “Multitasking Can Make You Lose…Um…Focus,” Alina Tugend centralizes around the negative effects of multitasking. She shows that often with multitasking, people tend to lose focus, lack work quality, have an increase in stress, and in the end she gives a solution to all these problems. Tugend conveys her points by using understandable language, a clear division of subjects, and many reliable sources, making her article cogent.
Multitasking requires that a worker divides his/her time and energy on multiple tasks at the same time. As a result, the care and attention to detail is divided. The amount of focus that could be used to review one assignment is split. In an experiment, Patterson (2017) discovered that students who studied while participating in media multitasking took longer to complete tasks in their classes. This experiment addresses media multitasking in the case of students. While it is not a type of multitasking we normally consider, it does involve performing multiple tasks at one. Instead of putting all of their focus on their assignments, these students’ attention is on the assignment and on their social media. The results of the experiment prove that it when placed in scenarios where people are required to focus on multiple things, it takes more time to complete certain tasks. In this instance, media multitasking caused a decrease in performance. In another experiment, Paridon and Kaufmann (2010) made an observation when studying multitasking in the workplace, stating that people’s reaction time diminished when multiple tasks were completed at once. The believe that multitasking affects people’s performance has also been proven to be true in the workplace, as the speed of people’s production when down when required to complete multiple tasks. Performance can be determined by the speed in which a task is completed.
To begin, anyone can be a distracted driver, regardless of age. Additionally, there are many things that take driver’s attention off the road, including:
As a consequence of the pervasive usage of screen technology, cognition has been affected because of the influence of neuroplasticity. Abbott (2013) and McClellan (2005) found that screen technology improved the holistic intellectual capacity through the advancement of cognitive skills such as multitasking, spatial ability, strategic decisiveness, and many others whereas Swing et al. (2010) Carr and (2010) observes that it degenerates attention spans and in-depth thinking. Overall, although some scholars argue that deterioration of cognitive function is due to screen technology exposure, it must be acknowledged that the positive correlation between screen technology exposure and the progression of cognizance outweighs the negatives because with the appropriate and sufficient utilisation of screen technology for cognitive development, the advantages will eclipse any disadvantages that could
Technology has always been improving over the decades, and now it has improved to the point where it’s a part of a human being’s life. People can’t imagine living without technology anymore nowadays, and especially college students who are always on their phones and laptops during lectures. That leads to what is known as multitasking, which is the ability to take care of more than one task at the same time. Multitasking has been popularized by students, and specifically college students, who think that they are actually successful at doing it. Unfortunately, according to Digital Nation: Life on the Virtual Frontier, after testing students who think they are brilliant at multitasking, results showed that they are terrible at every aspect of multitasking; consequently, it is not successful.
The presence of accumulated stress and heavy work load on the brain automatically bring about the student or the employee inability to multitask; knowing fully well that multitasking is one essential key to excellence.
The popular belief that multitasking is efficient, and the new-age generation is hard wired for multitasking, is highly misguided. Truth is, effective multitasking is an oxymoron. It’s not uncommon to see a person texting while walking down the street, listening to music while doing homework, or staring at a computer screen with multiple tabs and windows open. It’s hard not to multitask, given the amount of work people have to do and the non-stop information being thrown at them. People will do it as a force of habit; they think it will help them accomplish more tasks in a shorter time period. More often than not, they find it being the complete opposite. The brain can only process one activity at a time; instead, it switches gears, which takes time, reduces accuracy, distracts, and hinders creative thoughts. So, the real question should be: is multitasking actually worth the time? No, multitasking negatively affects people in all aspects of their life.