As I am writing this column I am also checking my mail, watching "Family Guy," logging on to Facebook and talking on AIM. But that's just how I roll, and apparently it's a bad thing.
According to "The Multitasking Generation," an article in TIME magazine, this is behavior typical of the "GenM," or multitasking generation. We divide all of our attention about three times over when we are computer-side. People are beginning to notice.
How often are we frustrated that our technology can't multi-task as much as we'd wish? My laptop can only have three windows open at a time, and frankly I wish I had invested in more Random Access Memory, or RAM.
I think that every time Windows crashes our technology is trying to tell us to slow down. Something needs to remind us -- people don't have enough metaphorical RAM.
According to Elinor Ochs, director of The Center on Everyday Lives of Families at UCLA, multitasking may be doing more harm than we realize.
I see it, now that I think about it. My roommates and I come in and out of our house all afternoon. But if I am playing World of Warcraft or researching for a paper when they arrive, rarely do I say hi, let alone ask them how their day was. They get more attention from me through AIM than real life.
Of course, it's not novel to multitask, and I hardly think it's a sin. We are busy because we need to be to get everything we want done. That's not a bad thing.
Our ancestors have been managing households and jobs for centuries. Furthermore, electronics encouraged generations before us to multitask when driving, cooking and washing clothes.
What's worrisome is not just the amount of time spent at the computer or even its replacement of social activities and quality time. The danger neurobiologists are beginning to focus on is in our apparent lack of attention in everything we do. Worse, this behavior in children may adversely affect their development.
It may seem like we need to run all these programs to function in the world we have created. But how often do we consider the cost of slicing our attention into sections for a cell phone, AIM conversation and studying all at once?
According to Hal Pashler, professor of psychology at the University of California San Diego, our brains only perform one action that requires conscious decision making at once. We simply put different tasks in the background as we focus on one at a time.
Brodmann's area 10 is a section towards the front of your brain that is believed to help you switch between tasks quickly.
As we get older our ability to push things onto the back burner becomes harder. Furthermore, we decrease our ability to function at full capacity when we multitask, even in our prime.
Perhaps a lesson we can learn from our old computers and tired parents is so simple we never realized it. Stop the background activity and really smell your research paper. It will get done quicker and better. And, for Brodmann's sake, slow down!
Anjali is a molecular biosciences and biotechnology major. Reach her at anjali.patel@asu.edu.
