Multi tasking is a skill that I thought worth mentioning in my job applications and have considered it to be an asset until I read an article in The Times this week , where a prominent neuroscientist, Dr Daniel Levitin has pronounced Multi tasking as detrimental to cognitive performance, because it interferes with a natural see- saw between focusing and daydreaming that helps re-calibrate and restore the brain.The article states that people who think that they are accomplished multi taskers are ” deluded”. So I’m now thinking that maybe it’s a time for revision of my CV!
Multi-tasking increases the production of the stress hormones cortisol and adrenaline which can over- stimulate the brain, causing mental fog and scrambled thinking. Much of the article examines the brains response to modern technology. Levitin analyses how our brains attempt to cope with a ” compulsion to fill every available pocket of time fiddling with gadgets”. He has concluded that every status update on Facebook, tweet, email and text that we read is competing for resources in our brains and we risk denying the brain of its natural day dreaming resting state which allows us to think creatively and effectively problem solve. His evidence: in 2011 Americans took in five times as much information as they did in 1986, by checking emails every five minutes, you are checking them 200 times a day. He comments that it is not the technology itself that causes the problem , but the way we over use it. We see people everyday in cafes and restaurants checking their phones, we see people walking along the street texting and to my horror I find my children sleeping with their phones.
So… Levitin concludes that if we are able to actively take control and limit the deluge of daily information we are exposed to we allow ourselves to be creative calm problem solvers. He doubts that the tweeters and facebookers of this world will have the capacity to tackle the challenges we face this century.
The article was published last Tuesday and I loved the title…”How your phone can make you stupid!”
I for one , am going to attempt not to become “stupid” or “deluded” in order to prevent a fried and scrambled brain and wean myself off checking my gadgets so often. I’ve even started leaving my phone at home when I go out in the evening…I feel actually quite liberated!
The Weller Way 