Inspired by some of your posts lately(e. g. nebal �s library with coffee), I �ve been thinking about timesavers and multitasking.

I know they �re a part of everyday life more than anything, and I, for one, am always multitasking (it �s in the nature of women, as they say, but correct me if I �m wrong). I am talking about teaching as well as everyday life. And I �ve been thinking that, as helpful as they are, they might also be a burden - I �ve noticed that whenever I hurry to do sth, so I would have more time for sth else, people seem to think this more time for sth else means I have more free time, so I get more work, or more situations open up.

Also, sometimes I think multitasking actually blurs the real focus, and we never get to concentrate on one important thing at hand, because we �re actually doing at least 3 at once. And it tends to create this little, but in no way negligible, bubble of stress. Because no matter how much or how fast you try to do everything well, you can never please all the people all of the time, so naturally - it creates stress. And I �m not only talking about teachers - I see it in my sts as well. The sooner they become competent and clever about creating their own little timesavers and start multitasking (all kinds of activities for school and out of school), the more edgy they become, unaware of it.

Yes, we could argue (I surely would, being one of such people) that we actually function better under stress, or at least - the more obligations I have, the more organised I get. But do you think we can and should function like that all our lives? Do you sometimes feel a timesaver, in life or teaching, has actually cost you your nerves, and multitasking, meant to help you do several things at once, has caused you not to actually enjoy any of them?

PS: I can �t stay long, but I �d be glad to get your opinions on this, here or by pm, and I �ll surely check them soon. Thanks...

You brought up a very intersting topic, for me in specific!!!

 

Im kind of person who is very efficient under stress. I always perform things in the last minutes possible. I �ve always been this way since childhood.

 

Well, mutitasking is a characteristic of me, but has always cost me nerves, stress, and health deteriorations. Consequently, I ended up enjoying nothing I �ve done coz I didn �t take my time in doing each task thoroughly though I did it successfully. And it gets worse... it �s not just that the quality of those many things in parallel will suffer, it �s that your ability to think and learn may suffer. Some researchers believe that all this constant, warpspeed, always-on multitasking is causing young people, especially, to become less able to follow any topic deeply.

 

Lately, he measurements revealed that for all types of tasks, subjects lost time when they had to switch from one task to another, and time costs increased with the complexity of the tasks, so it took significantly longer to switch between more complex tasks. Time costs also were greater when subjects switched to tasks that were relatively unfamiliar. They got "up to speed" faster when they switched to tasks they knew better, an observation that may lead to interfaces designed to help overcome people �s innate cognitive limitations.

 

From the current cover story in Time magazine:

"Decades of research (not to mention common sense) indicate that the quality of one �s output and depth of thought deteriorate as one attends to ever more tasks."

And according to Jordan Grafman, chief of the cognitive neuroscience section at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke:

"Kids that are instant messaging while doing homework, playing games online and watching TV, I predict, aren �t going to do well in the long run."

 

I don �t know how far these measurements and studies are true, but sensible enough.

 

Hugs,

Nebal

 

 

 

 

I could agree with a lot of what you said.

 

The opinion that we do better while under stress - let me share this...

 

Once I was watching a TV programme, that was interviewing an actor or actors, can �t remember now, anyway, the questions asked was: "How do you deal with stress? How do you clear yourself from stress?" To which the actor replied that life should be stress, that the only way to live was in stress, - perhaps he meant for actors.

 

Personally, I have been harbouring this idea for quite a while now - we learn better in a stressful situation. Easy example: students (us as well, for we all are studenst at some point) learn and remember words better in a real-life kinda urgent/emergency situation. We teachers can forever remind our students of a particular piece of vocabulary, but if a student is in a real-life situation and is required to produce that word quickly or else, he/she will do so and remember the word very well. You know wha I �m sayin �? 

 

So, stress in little dosages is good, I reckon, also it can be beneficial to recreate stress in the classroom, like I attempt to do with my role play and activities (students want to win for the team, get agitated and do their best thus imprinting words and structures in their brains).

 

 

No, I don �t. It is unhealthy and wrong. We have been zombied into living like this and taking onto ourselves twice more than we should. It seems to me we live faster and faster, work longer, and enjoy our lives less. The danger of multitasking can be that we first of all don �t manage to do either task with quality, and secondly that we don �t enjoy it the actual process. On the other hand, women and men have been multitasking since god knows when - think of ancient people, tending to their gardens, discussing the night menu and carrying a baby on the back all through. It �s just a matter of how many tasks is OK , and how many is too many. Also, we really should try and interchange intellectual work and physical work, least the brain should overheat.

 

 

Yes and yes. Recently we �ve been real busy, and I have been having nightmares, eating disorder, sleep problems, and I get irritated. I still love my job, but it is becoming a manic kind of love... But don �t worry, I �m taking a looong well-deserved holiday soon.

 

Is this helpful, Anita?

 

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MULTITASK - 2 : the performance of multiple tasks at one time

 

 

Have to run now!

 

Kristien

Nebal, I know how it feels when, as you say, �I ended up enjoying nothing. � Sometimes I have several project on the way, and when they are completed, I see my sts and colleagues enjoying the results and I stand there, happy that it �s over, but feeling like I �m standing on the side, and I �m saying to myself: � Enjoy this, honey, these are the results of your good planning and organisation! � and still I just feel so tired, or even worse - already half-focused on the next task(s).

Lana, your remark about sts who learn best when in a stressful situation/competition, or real-life situation - you �re so right! That part is really true! But the �manic kind of love � - oh I know that feeling so well!

Kristien, I �m a mom too, so I know this situation well, and I agree with you - as time goes by, it gets too difficult - you just need to vent it out somehow! I notice this when I �m on holiday and I find it hard to relax for a while!

Thanks for your answers...