That is the question. Before I provide you with my answer to that query, I’d like to announce a major discovery.
A couple of days ago, I found this really cool blog called Rocketboom. The site describes itself as “a daily international news program based in New York City” that provides “a wide range of information and commentary from top news stories to contemporary internet culture.” Having had a good look at the site, I’d say that’s a fairly accurate description. They did leave out two important points, though. One, they failed to mention that the site features videos. And two, they forgot the part about how much fun the blog is.
This week’s Rocketboom video offering is Ellie Rountree’s “6 Gadgets to Help You Multi-task in Comfort.” Having watched it a couple of times now, I’ve come to the conclusion that I really like the “multi-tasking chair” and the Sony Sountina speaker system. (Sorry for that spoiler.)
Now, to get back to the question I posed in my opening. I asked it because I wanted you to think about multi-tasking. I know that the sort of lives we live demand that we do learn how to do it, but frankly, I’m philosophically against multi-tasking, as a practice.
Those who argue that we should turn multi-tasking into an art form are really saying that we should squeeze every ounce of productivity out of ourselves and never let a single moment go to waste. Actually, I think that sounds unhealthy and would, on the contrary, advocate that everyone get a little better at loafing (or kicking back or decompressing or however you want to say it) without feeling guilty about not always being at peak efficiency. After all, humans are not machines, and we shouldn’t try to imitate them.
Plus, too many of us are already spread too thin. What we don’t need to do is behave in ways that cause us to “fragment” or “dilute” even more than we already have. Rather than doing five things at once (and probably not doing any of those masterfully), we need to learn to focus and concentrate.
Gosh, I’m probably sounding like some kind of Buddhist or something.
Tags: Women's Issues
September 5th, 2010 at 11:42 pm
Read this comment carefully – it’s not on topic it’s just a little something to give you a smile and say thanks for your hard work on this blog!
If at first you don’t succeed, failure may be your style.