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Multitasking hurts performance and may even damage the brain (2018)

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Re: Multitasking hurts performance and may even damage the brain (2018)

#191

Post by mjevans »

hnick wrote: post #185
andrewstuart wrote: post #11

My primary school age son, and anecdotally, lots of other kids of similar age, relentlessly multitask in ways that hurts my brain just to think about. He literally is playing a game, watching a YouTube video in another screen, and talking to friends at the same time, and in the most extreme case, is even listening to an audiobook or podcast as well. Asking kids about it, they all say that's just what they do and look…

I am late 30s and do that. I think it is a learned dysfunction / habit / stimulatory addiction. Just last night my wife asked how I can play a game (Path of Exile) and watch YouTube on my other screen. It was a little hard to explain but I mentioned I tend to watch videos I don't really need to look at (in this case it was just the relaxing tones of LockPickingLawyer) and I was kind of playing in a flow state in PoE…

That speed button is forcing async communication and having the ideas written out, or if they really insist, a presentation (with a transcription or at least the slide notes).

Re: Multitasking hurts performance and may even damage the brain (2018)

#192

Post by solipsism »

hnick wrote: post #185
andrewstuart wrote: post #11

My primary school age son, and anecdotally, lots of other kids of similar age, relentlessly multitask in ways that hurts my brain just to think about. He literally is playing a game, watching a YouTube video in another screen, and talking to friends at the same time, and in the most extreme case, is even listening to an audiobook or podcast as well. Asking kids about it, they all say that's just what they do and look…

I am late 30s and do that. I think it is a learned dysfunction / habit / stimulatory addiction. Just last night my wife asked how I can play a game (Path of Exile) and watch YouTube on my other screen. It was a little hard to explain but I mentioned I tend to watch videos I don't really need to look at (in this case it was just the relaxing tones of LockPickingLawyer) and I was kind of playing in a flow state in PoE…

I was kind of playing in a flow state in PoE so it didn't need my full attention.

That's not a flow state. That's autopilot.

Re: Multitasking hurts performance and may even damage the brain (2018)

#194

Post by ex3xu »

john61 wrote: post #193

I wonder if playing polyphonic music has the same effects. Have pianists a lower IQ than trumpet players?

My intuition would be that the kind of multitasking that can cause damage refers to trying to do multiple tasks that require a certain threshhold of focused attention and executive function, whereas musical training allows for the encoding of muscle memory to a level that doesn't really require executive function.

I'd be curious to see if that intuition holds up in practice, though I have my doubts about whether IQ or EQ would necessarily be the right quantitative metric.

Re: Multitasking hurts performance and may even damage the brain (2018)

#195

Post by hnick »

solipsism wrote: post #192
hnick wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am late 30s and do that. I think it is a learned dysfunction / habit / stimulatory addiction. Just last night my wife asked how I can play a game (Path of Exile) and watch YouTube on my other screen. It was a little hard to explain but I mentioned I tend to watch videos I don't really need to look at (in this case it was just the relaxing tones of LockPickingLawyer) and I was kind of playing in a flow state in PoE…

I was kind of playing in a flow state in PoE so it didn't need my full attention. That's not a flow state. That's autopilot.

Yeah, this is correct. I don't think flow applies if attention is divided.

Re: Multitasking hurts performance and may even damage the brain (2018)

#196

Post by hnick »

mjevans wrote: post #191
hnick wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am late 30s and do that. I think it is a learned dysfunction / habit / stimulatory addiction. Just last night my wife asked how I can play a game (Path of Exile) and watch YouTube on my other screen. It was a little hard to explain but I mentioned I tend to watch videos I don't really need to look at (in this case it was just the relaxing tones of LockPickingLawyer) and I was kind of playing in a flow state in PoE…

That speed button is forcing async communication and having the ideas written out, or if they really insist, a presentation (with a transcription or at least the slide notes).

Many of the offending meetings start with "let's jump on a call to nut it out" so unfortunately it's always a waffle in those cases without much useful prep work, but it's hard to say no because sometimes it really is the best course. I think we have a few people with a deficit of human interaction over the last year, doing their best to make up for lost time.

Re: Multitasking hurts performance and may even damage the brain (2018)

#199

Post by john61 »

ex3xu wrote: post #194
john61 wrote: post #193

I wonder if playing polyphonic music has the same effects. Have pianists a lower IQ than trumpet players?

My intuition would be that the kind of multitasking that can cause damage refers to trying to do multiple tasks that require a certain threshhold of focused attention and executive function, whereas musical training allows for the encoding of muscle memory to a level that doesn't really require executive function. I'd be curious to see if that intuition holds up in practice, though I have my doubts about whether IQ o…

Playing polyphonic music like Bach Fugues requires an enormous amount of focused attention and executive function. Relying on muscle memory alone does not work at all for me and all musicians I know that play polyphonic Bach music.

Re: Multitasking hurts performance and may even damage the brain (2018)

#200

Post by LeftHandPath »

shakaijin wrote: post #177

I have been noticing the impact of excessive multitasking on myself lately, and I am now actively trying to avoid it. At first i thought that multitasking would increase my overall efficiency by filling in gaps of downtime in certain tasks, but it soon turned me into a person incapable of focusing on anything deeply. One day, I noticed that I am unable to read a book the same way i did as a child (cover to cover in o…

I have noticed it as well, but I haven't gotten to the point of doing anything about it yet.

If I'm playing a video game, I have to be listening to a podcast. If I'm reading a book, I have to check the news every few minutes. If I'm writing code, I have to turn on some sort of background noise. The only times I'm productive are when I, by some accident, get past the initial discomfort of doing only one thing, and get lost in the activity before I have time to think about it.

It's definitely a bad trait, but I didnt cognitively realize that until this thread made me think about it.

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