

The Myth of Multitasking - nreece
http://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/the-myth-of-multitasking

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Tekhne
When people say "multitasking," I think they really mean "heavy context
switching." It's important to re-frame the idea because actual multitasking is
/extraordinarily/ difficult. It takes years or decades to master multitasking
in even one, very specific arena (e.g. playing the drum set, or understanding
two conversations simultaneously).

Heavy context switching, on the other had, is more readily doable by human
beings, but still highly inefficient. It would be much better if people
focused on prioritizing work more effectively, and then proceeded in a serial
manner. Of course, prioritizing work is not easy, especially in complex
systems, but the time freed up from constant context switching would help.

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hschenker
I do my work in the "interstices of [my] mind-wandering." That quote (see
<http://tinyurl.com/454tao>) is going to stick with me for a while.

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syntaxfree
Context switching has a cost.

Mood also has a cost. Task-switching may improve your mood by either switching
to something non-work related every half-hour for five minutes, or just by
easing the feeling of droning away into bog details.

If you really don't want to task-switch into nonwork, a long-term
planning/short-term work task-switch may improve mood and productiviy.

(Full disclaimer: I am bipolar. The kind you medicate. Sometimes work brings a
heavier toil because I'm depressed; sometimes I won't be able to concentrate
because hypomania (enough that I take Ritalin, which calms me down))

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astine
It's true, at least partly. I know from personal experience that trying to do
too much at once can lead to nothing getting done at all.

Then again, there is evidence that focusing too hard can be just a strong a
cause of brain blocks and burnout. Many famous discoveries were created when
the discoverer wasn't thinking about the problem at all. (Eg. Elias Howe and
the sewing machine)

I think that one needs to find a balance between focus and distraction and
between single tasking and multitasking, preferably in favor of focus.

------
Hoff
This article, via HN, sans irony?

