Media Multitaskers Pay Mental Price

[happinesson]

multitasking is possible to do but the efficiency of the work output is not guaranteed. Better yet, why not try time management to become more productive.

[potpie921]

thank you for sharing

[thegreeensky]

nice video.. informative...

[adelle0001]

nice one! useful video!

[thebigfootme]

this is helpful..i need it!lol

[agapitoflores001]

Thanks for the upload. It really helped me.

[NinjaShout]

BLOW YOUR FUCKING NOSE

[seahen1337]

@nosajetah Me too. I can work a lot more efficiently while hearing familiar songs than new ones. Maybe people aren't "listening to music" so much as avoiding noise while we do other things.

[ianios1]

whoa whoa whoa...I can read the newspaper AND take a dump at the same time. this research is false!

[charatthestar]

When you are playing piano, and each hand is playing differently, they are still playing the same song, and concentrated on the song. I am a typist, and I know the keys so much I don't even THINK about what keys I'm hitting. NO ONE IN THIS VIDEO is claiming you can't do something unconciously while doing something conciously. That is NOT multitasking. Furthermore, no one says multitasking doesn't exist, but that its proven inefficient. Looks more like evidence threatens some people's identities.

[nosajetah]

I listen to music and do other things all the time but I don't really listen to the music. I use it more as a way to block out distractions like random noises of other things. It is easy to block out a sound you are expecting, its the out of place sounds that spark the "omg I am going to get eaten" response that I am looking to rid myself of. Mythbusters had a nice example of driving and talking at the same time. From my experience most people have enough trouble just driving

[rcviper02]

You can't really call driving and talking on the phone at once multitasking. Like walking and talking, walking is an automatic mental task just like driving. Driving is something we all do mostly everyday. It becomes automatic. Most of us don't have to think about it when we do it. So it doesn't count as a task. Our minds can only pay attention to one thing at a time. Switching from one task to the other is what most of us see as multitasking. How well we do each task is another story.

[qazwsxedcrfvg123]

@rcviper02

True that actually switching from one task to the other is what seen and called multitasking. And this is why if you talk on the phone when driving (and most people do it periodically), and some unexpected event happens, you need the much more time to react to this event. Because now you need to switch from the task - talking on the phone, to other SEQUENCE of tasks (which you rarely do and are not so much wired into u).

That is why talking on the phone when driving is dangerous.

[calebrambo]

the idea is interesting, I still think more comparing between great multitasking and terrible multitasking should be done. he seems to be saying great multitasking can gather more information on a wider array of data but less on a specific said field. all those psychology books about different types of learners i don't see how this is different.

[AyKay47]

This is really ridiculous....we multitask EVERY DAY. That is just common sense is it not? Maybe i'm expecting too much by asking this on here, but do we not multi-task while driving? we are doing MANY things at once while driving so is that not multi-tasking?

[ratarob]

playing piano is multitasking, I think this study is rig to appease old farts.

[1WhoSeeks]

@ratarob No. Playing a piano is playing a piano.

[ratarob]

@1WhoSeeks I don't know if you play piano ...but if you do you will notice that you are basically playing 2 songs at the same time .. melody on one hand and the base on the other one ...further ..each finger is working alone on his piano key ....I say is multitasking big time! .. this video is nothing more than a excuse

[1WhoSeeks]

@ratarob Multi tasking is the attempt to perform 2 or more different tasks at the same time. When I play the piano, I do not attempt to also play a guitar. Considering that it takes years of practice, practicing for many hours a day, I would say the average person cannot play a piano. Nor can the average person multi-task. When playing the piano, you are performing but one function. If you add vocals to your playing, your piano playing is affected. In some cases dramatically.

[ulu2011]

Well. It's also hard to focus on things in a system that is set on learning a "variety" of things, so that students can be more "well rounded". Why then, do we not have specialized studies?

[ulu2011]

Well. It's also hard to focus on things in a system that is set on learning a "variety" of things, so that students can be more "well rounded". Why then, do we not have specialized studies?

[EricTheOracle]

Scanning the environment will allow one to hunt and gather better as well as have a higher chance of surviving combat.

[The4LA2Baker0]

the dumbing down of society is going very well.

[0n3b1o0d]

what the fuck did i just watch?

[verlaco]

I am not agree cause women can do many things (multitasks) at the same time, If you train your brain, it can do many things, and you can do very good that things, maybe some activities require more attention than others but i think, it depends of how good you can learn or catch it.

[1WhoSeeks]

@verlaco What you are referring to is a myth. Research has found that multitasking is a bad habit that women have and contributes to their inefficiency.

[pinochska]

are they taking into account the parallel processing your brain can manage once you make the task "second nature" like driving? because i think it is important..

[gamez4me19]

I can't stand that guy Clifford Nass, he talks terrible.

[MC91335]

Agree 100%. I just monotask and get more done at a higher level of quality. I believe that the brain has "excess" ability doing most common task which then allows us to devote bits of attention to simultaneous tasks (i.e.) multitasks, but at a low level of concentration and efficiency.

[ChaosmanOne]

Did you just "proof positive" that all those fucking asshat Facebook, iPhone, text message, iPod, fluff brains are ACTUALLY fluff brains! Brilliant!!

[mggimcg]

I didn't fully understand this video, I was reading a study on multitasking and msging my friend about it at the same time.

[generationalist]

This video was too short. Is there some clear definition of what is being called multitasking? The only example presented in this video was a rectangle test. Was this a double blind test? The test looked to be suspect for personal bias. If there is no clear definition of what multitasking is, then how can there be an objective test? Thomas Edison was quite successful at working on several projects simultaneously: work one, jump to another and another. How was Thomas Edison - not - multitasking?

[gotilk]

You cannot accurately measure results and expect a reflection of the reality of the practice when the activities are not motivated by desire.

Multitaskers are not lousy at multitasking, they are lousy at multitasking when presented with tasks that they are unmotivated, uninterested and uninspired by.

Re-test.

[xRen0x]

meh ...the brain is a multitasking machine running at roughly 100 Hz. Its actually better designed to do many things simultaneously , esp women happen to be good at it.

[slouchydragon]

Apparently this was done with a sample of only 100 people. In other words, you can take this study like a grain of salt.

[merdufer]

it was around 30-50 in each experiment. still, a significant result with 30 people is pretty good.

the biggest problem is just that high and low multitasking are only correlational, so the causal direction cannot be established.

"multitasking makes your attention control worse" is a wrong conclusion. they have mentioned this fact as well.

[antonkrasikov]

Need to play more StarCraft to improve multitasking.

[ry4nkidz]

it's really depend on the tasks. We have chat and listen to the music, but we cannot eat and sleep at the same time.

[OhNoItsGojira]

I don't think I agree with the effectiveness of this experiment - not thorough at all.

[guest2424]

I wouldn't fully comprehend simultaneously: a TV show, music, youtube videos & a phone conversation.

I "juggle" tasks, which I only focus on 1 thing at a time, even if it is for less than a second & even if there are (like now) 51 windows open on my PC & TV on.

I can listen to music extremely quietly & also preform a job communicating with people non-stop taking detailed information without any problem, because the music has 0 priority & is quiet enough that it doesn't interfere in any way.

[busherbee]

Multi-tasking creates an inability to focus and eliminates critical thinking.

[Maxell720]

WHO THE FUCK cares if people like to Multitask. This guy who doing the study is sooooooo BIAS. He just being negative not even looking at the good side of multitasking.

[veryfuck]

what the heck is going on?.. well i tell you what the hell is going on, the world is spewing out dumb little children that think they are cool and hip if there social life is flooded with electronic gadgets.

this is caused by persistent brainwashing from the media and the scam of the political system that keeps the United Corperation of America intact.

[MingoDynasty]

My life is flooded with electronic gadgets but I don't think I'm "cool and hip" at all. Actually I think I look pretty geeky.

I like how somehow link and blame the media and political system for today's young generation of multitaskers.

[john123wayne]

i think multitasking "in the same ways" is the point everyone is missing.

for example...how irritated do you get, and how "thrown off" is your focus when you are trying to read and someone interrupts you every 1 minute with a question. multitasking in this way: reading and speaking doesnt work. however, maybe downloading music, cutting and pasting, etc...because its a 'singular' person activity (but for talking on the phone at the same time) works just fine or the brain. just a thought.

[stazzou]

that's gotta be an august fool video, they're late at Stanford :)

[mykmmc]

what did he say????????????? i was checking my email and shaving my dog

[Neffabletranscendent]

It's only logical that multi-tasking reduces the quality of whatever it is your doing because your focus is scattered.

[MrLesWhite]

You don't multi-task open heart surgery for this same reason. Which is why people tell you to shut off everything etc for class, meeting, etc..

The thing is in this society the average brain power required and expected for any task regardless of importance is relatively low, coupled with heavy work loads, multi tasking is the only way to go

In other words people are not being challenged and are bored so they need several things to do to stay focused

[redrebel69]

I think a one core CPU with that does pipelining is a good analogy on how th brain deals with multitasking. Basically the operating system schedulers determines how much time to allow for a certain task and the switch to another task. if you do it fast enough it looks like you are doing many things at once, but in reality you are only doing one thing at a time.

[eedahl]

Not to mention all the calls and cache wasted on having several tasks operative "simultaneously."

[Omega231984]

Actually, people who multi-task usually have A.D.D. or A.D.H.D. but because they have ADD/ADHD they have the ability to multi-task effectively it's only the focused or should I say overly focused people where it's impossible to multi-task since they can only focus on one objective at a time, I multi-Task all the time, I like to download videos, copy and paste, take notes for my online classes, listen to music, and watch international news on my TV doing all of these thing at one time

[veryfuck]

WOW where did you learned that? on tv?

[pete975]

very interesting research confirming what I already suspected -that multi-taskers are attention-deficit butterflies and are probably much more impressed by their 'ability' than their bosses, partners or any other on-looker.

[MoneyLoverism]

Most effective way to way to multitask is just working with multiple-tabbed windows. When it comes to things like talking while working? No. I do listen to videos while I work, don't know how much that counts though...

[merdufer]

so regular multi-taskers actually have worse control of their attention? interesting.

but it could be that those people are just making up for their lack of attentional control by multitasking: if they would've gotten distracted by things anyway, it's probably better that they're distracted by something more relevant.

[cuntscab555]

i can't read unless i have six open windows. books can't cut it for me any more. deal with it, science

[niekvdbogert]

i can relate. Since ive been 'multi tasking' i just keep doing stuff very superficially by constantly changing goals: watch youtube movie, ow wait difficult word, so look it up on online dictionary. Oh wait ive got mail, better look at it first. Then i remember that i have to mail my gf for something trivial. And this goes on and on. People say : wow you are so fast flipping from program to program. jeah: but im not getting anything done.

now what was i doing before watching this video... 0_o

[athomas1124]

I think they are better multitaskers when they are doing something they want to do rather than a simulation such as the test they took.

[eedahl]

I know this too well. I used to do everything at once, until I read an article on the subject. Now I try to focus at one thing at a time.

[Dhonigk]

damn I have the same problem...

[AlexFate101]

Interesting. Thanks for posting ;-)