it was just us who were inadequate.
Turns out the whole modern world is inadequate. I love a happy
ending.
Only one question remains, and it is a troubling one: What exactly
is multi-tasking?
Until these studies were released, I was under the impression that
multi-tasking was some rarefied undertaking. Why else would there
be such a highfalutin term to describe what people have always
done, which is to say, a couple of things at once? And by a couple
of things, I mean a couple of any old things.
According to a
National Public Radio report on the subject, if
you're listening to the radio and doing the dishes at the same
time, you're multi-tasking. I had not considered radio listening to
be a task. Now, changing radio stations while washing dishes
(especially with a knob changer instead of push buttons) - that
might be multi-tasking. But maybe listening to the radio is a task,
especially these days when the music most stations play is so bad
it's hard to listen to. In that sense, listening to the radio isn't
just a task. It's a challenge. So I suppose I see NPR's point.
Apparently, if you are talking on the phone and hollering at your
kids, you're multi-tasking. If you're watching television and
eating
potato chips at the same time, you're multi-tasking.
Lyndon Johnson once quipped that a fellow politician couldn't walk
and chew gum at the same time. He meant it, I believe, as a
put-down. But according to research, it may actually be a
compliment to a guy who otherwise focuses intently on doing one
thing at a time.
Which brings us, of course, to the recently celebrated Valentine's
Day. If I am, say, kissing my wife while at the same time, um,
stroking her hair, would I be doing a disservice to both
activities?
Or is romantic entwining a single activity, allowing a person to
engage more than one body part at a time?