Thursday, May 17, 2012

your thoughts?

Please respond to this article in a comment to this post.

16 comments:

  1. The article is definately interesting and they make a very valid point. When you multi-task you are not able to focus deeply on either task. However, I think it is more about who is multi-tasking, not wether you are or not, because there are people who are better at multi-tasking than others. Overall, if you give half of your focus to one thing and half to another, both tasks wont be at 100%.

    -Carson Dacus period 6

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  2. It was an interesting read, but some of it sounded like common sense. Of course multi-tasking delays reaction time and keeps us from fully concentrating. Fun fact- texting while driving is a smidge more dangerous than drinking and driving because of that delayed reaction time while texting. I can't go a day without multi-tasking though. Watching tv and doing homework, playing guitar and eating a sandwich, whatever. It doesn't bother me if things take a little longer to accomplish.

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  3. We've talked about this before in class and I still agree with the comments above and the article. When you are multi-tasking you aren't giving your all into each activity. However, like Carson said, some are better multi-taskers than others. I also think it all depends on the subject. If someone is multi-tasking while doing homework, that may negatively affect their learning, but multi-tasking in other activities can actually be a good thing.

    Briana Stinn
    Period 3

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  4. It may be true that multitasking limits your focus and quality of work, but it is these other programs that keep me from turning off my computer and walking away. If it wasn't for multitasking I wouldn't have accidentally clicked my bookmark for the blog instead of Wikipedia and saw the link to the article. In a way multitasking allowed me to comment in the first place.

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  5. Multitasking is one of those things that helps some people and hinders others. While I would like to believe multitasking helps me, it usually stresses me out above most things. The only time multitasking is resourceful is when, like Trey said, I need to remember to check or do something important. Multitasking can "enhance" my memory in that sense because I can track back my steps by remembering what else I was doing when I needed to go to the next task at hand. Multitasking may not be good for an attention span kind of work but I can't say that it completely ruins a person's learning.

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  6. This article goes back to the idea that multitasking does not exist. We cannot fully concentrate two things at a time. I also found myself doing three different things. For me multitasking is a bad thing. It does not help me better memorize things or keep track of things. I need to learn to become better at multitasking, not remove this habit. As the article states, it would be too difficult to remove multitasking from my life.

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  7. Makes sense to me. It explains why I like taking things one step at a time and why I can't play music or have anything going on while doing homework or anything serious. I really think that people are getting efficiency mixed up with multitasking however. If a person is able to get a large amount of things done within a short amount of time, it would seem like they would put all their attention to one thing and then swiftly move on to the next thing and refocus their attention on that goal until completion. It may look like they are doing many things at once whereas the reality is that they are just really good at getting one thing done at a time and have very clear focus on the objective at hand.

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  8. I am terrible at multi-tasking. However, I still find myself wandering off to facebook or to check my email, etc., when I'm doing homework. That's often why it takes me a long time to get what I need to done. I think the more effective way to accomplish tasks is to focus on one thing at at time, that way everything gets done with the highest quality.

    Arianna Farmer
    Period 2

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  9. This whole idea, (even though it's not really based on multi tasking) somewhat brings me back to the younger generation, like age 5 and under using technology. Like the girl who swipes at the pages of a book and expects it to change like on a tablet... I know it's not really the same thing, but it just got me thinking, if our generation is having trouble with multi tasking, and being able to keep our focus, what's going to happen to the next generation? Does it stop here, or does it keep going? If we have trouble focusing, imagine what it will be like for them.. I don't know. Food for thought I guess.

    Jessica C.
    Period 4

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  10. This article reminds me of my visit to UC Berkeley in April. I had the opportunity to sit in an introductory physics class for engineering students at cal with one of my friends, Nathan Jordan. When I walked in the lecture hall, all I saw were 200 students typing away on their computers. Sure, this might be normal before the lecture begins, but it never stopped. I sat in the middle of the stadium, so I was able to see exactly what the students were doing on their computers. Throughout his lecture, students continued to post statuses on Facebook and play computer games. Fortunately, I was attending the class where the professor was going over the grades for his recent midterm. A lot of students didn't perform well, and, after reading this article, it's clear that they are being distracted by their technology in the classroom.
    Personally, I believe, I have the worst multi-tasking ability you will ever see in an 18 year-old. Yes, it can be bothersome at times - especially when text messaging. While text messaging, I become completely oblivious to the outside world. Someone can say anything about me when I'm standing right next to them, and I'll have no idea they even spoke in the first place. With this flaw, however, I am able to focus on individual subjects much more clearly. Like the article said, it seems to be more efficient to take one task at a time and finish them instead of multiple tasks at once.

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  11. Multi-tasking feels to me like a cultural crutch that we have come to rely on to function. We need the phone that we can listen to music on, while texting, while updating our facebook status. Not to say that the convenience of this is wrong, but it becomes a barrier to being able to fully focus on one task rather than only allowing a small part of our brain to work. As for myself, when faced with assignments, not having the "background noise" of music or socializing, creates this annoying void or awkward silence in my mind which inhibits me from working. I have come to rely on the distraction to focus, which shouldn't make sense but what seems to be a socially accepted norm. What would we be left with if all the media's commercials, songs, movies, tv shows , networking sites etc. were stripped away? Would we be left with a shockingly empty shell of a mind we once thought was full?

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  12. This articles reminds me of sophomore year, when you told us to look up the idea of multi-tasking. I remember back then I stated that multi-tasking does not exist because I only dumbs down our nation instead of making us more productive.

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  13. I can definitely relate to this article. When multitasking, it's hard for me to do my best on each task. It's quantity vs. quality. I would like to be able to not have to multitask, but it seems like there are not enough hours in the day. This generation is having to multitask because more things are being asked and expected from them than in previous generations.

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  14. Articles dealing with how technology affects students/people have gotten quite popular recently.
    I mean, we can't change the CHANGE that's happening to our society. It is what it is. We can't really change the way we multi-task or the way we approach two different actions/problems, etc.

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  15. This article clearly shows that multi-tasking is not efficient even though some people believe that it is. I've been inundated with so much things to do, and I tried to do them all at once. However, all I get from this is a lot of stress and nothing getting done. Technology has taken control over my daily routines and it's very distracting when it comes to focusing on academics.

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  16. What this article is saying is that maybe multi-tasking isn't as efficient as we all seem to think it is. Which is why we should attempt to focus our whole attention on one thing at a time because it will create a better outcome and it will finish faster so that we can move on to other things we need to do. I know that I work better when I'm doing just one thing at a time rather than multiple things at a time. Which is what people need to realize.

    Savanah Lyon
    Period 2

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