Multitasking - innate or learned?

[Night Elf]

Is it an either/or, as in Either you have it Or you don't? How do I know if my child can multitask? How can a person learn to multitask?

 

My son has Aspergers and I read that multitasking is usually difficult for Aspies, and that they should choose jobs that do not require this ability. That sure seems to limit job prospects.

[hillfarm]

I'm not sure that multitasking is as good as it is cracked up to be. I watched an interesting show not too long ago that featured college professors discussing how even though all their students perceive themselves as such great multitaskers, the reality is that all they are doing is many things poorly at the same time. The basic premise of the show was that while many people pride themselves on their ability to multitask, the reality is that tests demonstrated that their results were much less impressive than when they focused on each task individually.

 

I can understand wanting to get your son to be able to do a few things simultaneously, but I'd urge caution about lauding the skill too much.

[cathmom]

The book The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains does not have good things to say about multitasking.

 

What I thought of when I saw your title was how my husband seemed to be unable to hold an infant and eat at the same time, whereas if I couldn't do that, I would have starved to death, especially with the twins! :lol:

[Stacia]

I'm not sure that multitasking is as good as it is cracked up to be. I watched an interesting show not too long ago that featured college professors discussing how even though all their students perceive themselves as such great multitaskers, the reality is that all they are doing is many things poorly at the same time. The basic premise of the show was that while many people pride themselves on their ability to multitask, the reality is that tests demonstrated that their results were much less impressive than when they focused on each task individually.

 

I can understand wanting to get your son to be able to do a few things simultaneously, but I'd urge caution about lauding the skill too much.

 

:iagree: Perhaps a better skill to work on than multi-tasking is learning how to prioritize tasks. Being able to assess which items are truly important (vs. doing some of everything but not always completing anything) is a great skill to have. That way, your ds (or anyone) can focus on getting the most important things done.

 

I'm not good at multi-tasking & try to avoid it as much as possible. I don't feel that it ever affected my work life because I was very good at focusing on what needed doing (strong concentration & great work on the most important tasks) & getting it done.

[CroppinIt]

Is it an either/or, as in Either you have it Or you don't? How do I know if my child can multitask? How can a person learn to multitask?

 

My son has Aspergers and I read that multitasking is usually difficult for Aspies, and that they should choose jobs that do not require this ability. That sure seems to limit job prospects.

 

I'm reading a book called "Quiet" -- it's all about introverts. The author claims that multitasking technically doesn't exist, it's a myth -- that "studies have shown" (I haven't confirmed this, but this is what she says) that multitasking isn't really our brains doing more than one thing at the same time, but rather just switching really fast from one to another because our brains can't truly concentrate on more than one thing at a time.

 

 

For the record, if I'm remembering correctly, she says that extroverts are, as a group, better at "multitasking" than introverts, as a group.

[myfunnybunch]

:iagree: Perhaps a better skill to work on than multi-tasking is learning how to prioritize tasks. Being able to assess which items are truly important (vs. doing some of everything but not always completing anything) is a great skill to have.

 

I agree. My husband and I were talking about "multi-tasking," using cooking as an example. Generally, I am good at multi-tasking; he is good at focusing on one thing at a time. He prepares one dish at a time. I can see all of the steps for all of the tasks and figure out the most time-efficient order in which to do the tasks. We realized it's not so much multi-tasking I'm good at, it's breaking down tasks into parts and figuring out an efficient order.

 

Cat

[Rosie_0801]

I agree. My husband and I were talking about "multi-tasking," using cooking as an example. Generally, I am good at multi-tasking; he is good at focusing on one thing at a time. He prepares one dish at a time. I can see all of the steps for all of the tasks and figure out the most time-efficient order in which to do the tasks. We realized it's not so much multi-tasking I'm good at, it's breaking down tasks into parts and figuring out an efficient order.

 

Cat

 

Mm. That's what I was thinking about as I was reading through the thread. I couldn't cook more than one thing at a time when I was learning, but am much better at it now. It takes practice to know how many potatoes you can peel and dice before the onions start burning. :p

 

Rosie

[besroma]

Nodding in agreement here . . . multitasking is overrated.

 

I've read articles that describe how multi-tasking actually slows people down. At the computer, for instance, it simply takes time to stop doing one thing, pull up the other screen, remember where you were in that task, re-focus your thoughts, and then continue with it. Toggling between several screens and projects feels like productivity, but it may not actually be as "smart" as we togglers would like to believe. ;)

 

Your son may be better served, as others have mentioned, by learning to prioritize and see a task through to completion.

 

:iagree: