Does multitasking really work?

Babs2u

Babs2u

Senior Member
According to the Cleveland Clinic, what we call multitasking is simply switching rapidly from one task to another.

Why Multitasking Doesn’t Work

If the brain can only concentrate on one issue at a time this could help with pain management. I wake up with pain and spend time working on crossword puzzles until I am able to navigate. The distraction really works for me. How about you?
 

I read your link from Cleveland Clinic, and I've seen other sources that say the same. If something needs my full attention (like reading complicated instructions) I focus on it; otherwise I multitask all the time, and haven't had any problems from doing so.
 
I am a lifelong multitasker, a term that I’ve come to understand is often misunderstood. Yes, it means doing more than one task at once…talking on the phone while dusting, listening to a podcast while driving etc.

But it also includes keeping up with a number of tasks concurrently. Here’s an example from a typical evening in my life; running laundry while prepping dinner while listening to an audiobook while running my dog through some tricks.

It’s simply being able to manage more than one task at a time, staying focused on them and keep them all moving through to completion.

One of my clients is medicated for ADHD. She is a perfect example of someone who finds it difficult to do more than one thing at a time , and to stay on task with even just the one thing. For example If she tries to talk on the phone while folding laundry, invariably she will either lose track of the conversation or make a mess of the folding.

Another friend tries so hard to multitask but at the end of the day is surrounded by incomplete tasks.

Being able to multitask is a skillset that not everyone has. But at the end of the day, I think the more important thing is being able to finish what you start, no matter how you make that happen.
 
I start out multitasking. If one task takes up much time to get right, and I find I'm running out of the time I need to complete another task, I drop that other task.
 
Babs2u said:
My point was about pain. If one can only concentrate on one thing at a time, being thoroughly engrossed in something could help alleviate pain.
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Definitely often worth a try.
Which I have done at many and varying times and situations.

It takes some effort to refocus on something else when in pain, I find, and to maintain that focus.
"Thoroughly engrossed" seems most likely to have the potential to supplant the pain.

I try to consciously pay intense attention to some specific thing other than the pain.
Sometimes works.
 
Babs2u said:
According to the Cleveland Clinic, what we call multitasking is simply switching rapidly from one task to another.

Why Multitasking Doesn’t Work

If the brain can only concentrate on one issue at a time this could help with pain management. I wake up with pain and spend time working on crossword puzzles until I am able to navigate. The distraction really works for me. How about you?
Click to expand...
I multitask a lot, sometimes it works out very well, sometimes not so much. Like I'll forget the wash in the washer as I was out in the yard raking pine needles. I don't multitask while doing anything serious that needs concentration or close attention......so all is well. I've always been that way, will start one thing and want to take care of another while I'm thinking of it. Then there are days I do very little or no tasks at all. :)
 
I am an absolute believer in women being superior multi-taskers. If you don't believe me, just eavesdrop in a women's kaffeeklatsch. They interrupt each other constantly (never rudely), they finish each other's sentences, and they seem to take great joy in the constant yammering.

As I am a linear person (male) preferring to focus on one thing at a time, that kind of kaffeeklatsch thing drives me absolutely bonkers. Can't handle it. After about 15 minutes of that, I have to leave the room.

Which is probably what they wanted to begin with. o_O

But it was fun for a little while. I'm utterly amazed at that.
 
hollydolly said:
I am a multi-tasker extraordinaire ..I feel.. I can certainly do several things all at the same time. Not starting and stopping one and starting another..I'm literally doing, up to 5 or 6 things at once.. absolutely without any problems...

I think women can do this naturally...
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That's true, Holly. The reason for that is that nature has given women the ability to ride herd on children while doing other things simultaneously...:cool:
 
Ronni said:
It’s simply being able to manage more than one task at a time, staying focused on them and keep them all moving through to completion.
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This describes my job to the letter.

Everything I do is done in stages, and I am usually running 3 jobs at once, minimum, all in different stages of the process.

It was difficult at first, but you get a rhythm after a while.
 
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hollydolly said:
I am a multi-tasker extraordinaire ..I feel.. I can certainly do several things all at the same time. Not starting and stopping one and starting another..I'm literally doing, up to 5 or 6 things at once.. absolutely without any problems...

I think women can do this naturally...
Click to expand...
Multitasking? I can cough, sneeze, pee, fart and pebbledash my underpants all at once. Easy peasy.
 
hollydolly said:
I am a multi-tasker extraordinaire ..I feel.. I can certainly do several things all at the same time. Not starting and stopping one and starting another..I'm literally doing, up to 5 or 6 things at once.. absolutely without any problems...

I think women can do this naturally...
Click to expand...
Me,too👆👍
 
Some things abut multi tasking is muscle memory. Look to a Piano.

Playing chords, playing minors, singing, turning the page, watching the conductor.
Its all abut accepting responsibility. For some its easy, others, mostly an impossibility.
///some don't need to turn a page, no need for notes ect. Ohers are lost. Why would
one that loves to hang glide in his free time wish to play a tuba up there!

Just say I can't do it.
 

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