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The effects of overusing technology
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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. Although some people may think multi-tasking is a benefit because they can get more done, they don’t realize that the more they try to balance at once the less attention they are giving to the tasks at hand. In James Gleick’s article “Attention! Multitaskers,” he talks about how a young co-worker is having a conversation with the companies …show more content…
Gleick says in his article that by the time Michael Hartl “heads for the bathroom…each morning, he has already got his computer starting... And then, as he runs to breakfast, he…[dials] into the campus computer network, and then gets his web browser started so he can check the news while he eats. ‘I figure I save at least two or three minutes a day…” While Michael is trying to get his computer ready at the same time he is getting ready for the day, he has the potential to rush himself through his hygiene activities which could lead him to not fully completing them. As humans we always want the extra moments in our days to stretch to the maximum that they can, even if it means that we have to cut something else in our day short. We like to be able to say we did more because it gives us a boost in our ego for the day. Doing more multitasking in our days does not always mean we did do more. Switching back and forth between tasks could also take up more time than to stick to one task until it is fully done. When we multitask we have to continuously change the way our mind is thinking and what our body is doing. This could take more of a process to repeatedly get started rather than maintain a single thought on a topic and continuously let it
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
Many would remark that multitasking is a skill that can be trained like all others. However, a lot of neuroscience has went into proving that multitasking is a myth altogether. The article “The Myth of Multitasking” is written by Nancy K. Napier for Psychology today is here to debunk the myth of the brain’s capability to multitask. The article states that the brain is incapable of doing two things at once. Instead, the way that we fool ourselves into thinking that we can multitask is how quickly our brain switches from one task to another. Our brains can’t perform tasks simultaneously as our focus is a narrow beam. So, to compensate for this, our brain switches between these two tasks very quickly, almost as if we are doing them at the same
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.
With the proliferation of social media and technology, people have been spending a significant amount of time with media. New technological developments have resulted in the recent trend of media multitasking as people have been using phones, computers, and other technology to access media while they do other work. In Christine Rosen’s essay, “The Myth of Multitasking,” Rosen points out many negative effects of media multitasking, including the effect it has on learning. Although people use technology and media to multitask, media multitasking hinders people’s ability to learn.
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.
In the essay “The Myth of Multitasking,” Christine Rosen searches for the truth behind multitasking. In her essay, the structure allows readers to understand how important multitasking is in the modern day. Then the essay she talks about the negatives about a high-multitasking lifestyle. Rosen mentions various of doctors, specialists, and psychologists to support her claim that multitasking isn’t as good as people think but it can be detrimental. Rosen mentions multitasking is dangerous, but also for people's overall well-being. The essay starts with a quote in one of Lord Chesterfield’s letters to his son. Chesterfield offered the following advice: “There is time enough for everything in the course of the day, if you do but one thing at once,
People live in a society that encourages getting as many things done as quickly as possible. Whether they realize it or not, multitasking as become a part of their everyday lives. They perform multiple tasks at the same time in order to save time. They use multiple electronics to take more in all at once. Multitasking can seem to be the more efficient way to handle things because people can spend the same amount of time on several tasks as opposed to just one. However, they do not stop to think of the amount of effort it takes the multitask and the consequences that can come along with it. Several experiments have been performed to determine just how detrimental multitasking can be. Attempting any form of multitasking
Multitasking, a practice used by many people to complete multiple tasks at once, seems beneficial to the user, but recent research shows that this practice causes more distractions. Alexandra Samuel argues in her essay, “‘Plug in Better’: A Manifesto”, that by getting rid of all of the distractions caused by multitasking, the time spent on the computer can be used more efficiently. As businesses in today’s world are using computers to help employees be more efficient in the workplace, each worker should only have to handle one task at a time to maximize their efficiency. Richard Restak argues in his essay, “Attetion Deficit: The Brain Syndrome of Our Era,” that by not diverting a person’s attention to multiple activities at once, such person
In this day of instant information gratification, information overload is inevitable. On the organizational level, this can lead to decreased productivity due to the constant barrage of interruptions from being continually connected. Gone are the days of being able to focus on one task at a time, and multitasking is the new norm, despite the fact that multitasking greatly decreases productivity. Research indicates that people who multitask not only take longer to complete their tasks, but they also commit more errors (Dean & Webb, 2011). In a 2006 study of how the brain functions during multitasking, it was found that the area of the brain that processes information, bottlenecks the information; thus the brain cannot process information concurrently, causing a delay in being able to complete concurrent tasks. (Asplund, Dux, Ivanoff, & Marois, 2006). Also, information overloa...
Today we live in a society where everything is seconds away from us. With the advances and affordability of quality technology, you would be hard pressed to find someone without a smartphone, laptop, or tablet, possibly all at the same time. Because of the accessibility we find that, in our tech-savvy culture, multitasking has not just become an art form of sorts, but rather an expectation. In the article “Multitasking Can Make You Lose…Um…Focus,” Alina Tugend sets out to explore the idea that although multitasking appears to show productivity, it could be doing the opposite. Throughout her article, Tugend uses studies done by neurologists and psychologists to show how in a world that sees multitasking as an expectation it has actually made us less efficient. She proposes, through studies, that although you might be working on multiple tasks it is as if you’re playing tennis with multiple balls (Tugend, 725).
To understand this better, a research study was conducted by Eyal Ophir, Clifford Nass and Anthony Wagner, to see the results on cognitive control in media multitaskers. Firstly, they gave a two hundred sixty-two university
In the “Attached to Technology and Paying a Price” article, Matt Richtel stated that an increase in stress during multitasking can lead to a decrease in short-term memory. This relates to the research because the participants had a harder time applying the knowledge they learned while multitasking in the DT condition. Both articles also discussed the effects of technology and multitasking on children. Richtel stated that technology can create attention problems due the constant switching between tasks. This in turn can decrease children’s learning and productivity in school. The authors of the “The First Steps to Digital Detox, Room for Debate” article expanded on Richtel’s beliefs and stated that multitasking will lead to shallower and less flexible learning. The results of the research showed that multitasking leads to a different style of learning AND A HARDER TIME APPLYING KNOWLEDGE, but the NY Times articles discussed why this occurs including an increase in stress and divided attention. The NY Times articles accurately represented the research because the articles stated that distractions do have negative effects on learning especially in children. I commend the articles for discussing the effect of multitasking on
How many times have we been told that multitasking is not an efficient way to accomplish tasks? For many of us the answer is multiple, yet somehow we still find ourselves doing homework with the TV on or cooking dinner while talking on the phone. For some reason multitasking just seems unavoidable when faced with the countless tasks we need to get done. We tend to forget that trying to juggle all of our tasks at once can actually cause us to lose 40 percent of our productivity (What are the Cognitive…). But how can something that seems like a great way to get everything done at once cause us to accomplish nothing? Our brains cannot process and encode two different pieces of information, making it impossible to efficiently multitask. When asked to evaluate ourselves on how well we
“The researchers found that individuals who used their mobiles to communicate and multitask took significantly less notes (individuals who did not multitask with their mobile phones wrote down 62& more information), and their notes were less detailed (Zheng, 2015, p. 88). The evidence shows to the readers that multitasking is disrupting the students learning. It shows that students cannot give a full attention during multitasking, which the students miss, data. This information will help to support my thesis that multitask has bad effect to student’s learning.
One of the qualities required for any employee today is multitasking. In today’s society, it is rare to find people who do not multitask. Employers often promote inflated standards to their workers even if their job is getting the morning coffee or washing dishes. It is a popular belief that multitasking is very effective and allows one to complete more work in a shorter period compared to a worker who does not. However, multitasking is unproductive and damaging for people who try to perform more than one task at once.