On Multitasking

There's an advantage to being an old fart. As an old fart I am so disconnected to the new culture that I can observe and evaluate it more objectively. That is...if I can understand it enough to do so.  One thing I see as a huge problem is multitasking. Multitasking probably was born from the cell phone, which has a platform that almost forces the user to multi task. Ask any employer how much he hates workers multitasking, part work duties and part social media nonsense. Estimates from some say that as much as 25% of work time is being used by multitaskers logging onto social media sites.
Doing multiple tasks simultaneously is reflective of diminished focus of the person. That's harmless when one is at home and using media for personal leisure tasks. They simply are wasting time, something old farts like me do too, albeit m not with technology and not in such depth. At work or with students in school this multitasking usually results in the employee or student producing poor work quality compared to someone who is doing only one thing. Multitasking is a time waster since you'll need to switch from task to task, and may require constant reminder of what to do. In most situations, little work is completed since the individual who multitasks is constantly on the move towards the next item on their list, resulting in low productivity.

To be fair, there is nothing wrong in doing multitasking when it is controlled and focused. But too much of multitasking of activities reduces concentration. It makes us are in hurry to finish the and we miss some things we would not miss if we were doing one thing at a time. If you think you do better when you multitask then think about these people multitasking a task involving you; your surgeon operating on your brain is multitasking while he operates on you, the pilot flying the plane on which you are a passenger is logged on to Face book as he lands the plane,  the construction crew repairing a bridge does it with cell phones in hand and  turned on to their favorite web sites, soldiers in battle multitasking during an enemy siege, your 16 year old son multitasking as he cuts wood with a rotor saw...

Ok it's a tip of the iceberg of examples, but you get the idea. Many human tasks are dangerous when done without full focus and attention. On the other hand, perhaps multi-tasking has become so essential to modern humans that it is impossible to avoid in part or whole. Maybe we should begin to define what is proper multitasking and what is not. As of yet, society has not set any parameters, any social sanctions about idiotic multitasking situations. That's because the love affair so many humans have with cell phones and other technology is still too strong to confront with reason.

When boredom with multitasking technology makes us evaluate it better, perhaps  more people will become single task humans again.