Brian Chen of Wired.Com wrote an article examining studies purporting to demonstrate that multi-tasking is either a bad/good for us. In a section aptly called “Born to Multitask,” Chen discusses research by neuropsychologist Vaughan Bell pointing out that distraction and multitasking are hardly restricted to computers and mobile phones,
Vaughan Bell points out that multitasking is hardly a problem of the digital age -– we’ve been doing it all along. We can dribble a basketball while running, jot down notes while listening to a lecture, and jog through the park while listening to music.
“If you think Twitter is an attention magnet, try living with an infant,” Bell said. “Kids are the most distracting thing there is, and when you have three or even four in the house it is both impossible to focus on one thing — and stressful, because the consequences of not keeping an eye on your kids can be frightening even to think about.”
(Kids are indeed distracting: A British study found that for drivers, the distraction of squabbling kids can slow down brake-reaction times by 13 percent — as much as alcohol.)
Bell added that residents of poorer neighborhoods that use very little technology (like Medellin, Colombia, where he resides) hardly live distraction-free lives. They have to watch their food because there is no timer; washing clothes has to be done by hand while keeping an eye on everything else; street vendors pass by the house and shout what they’re selling, and if you miss that your family could go without food for a day. In short, the 24/7 multitasking lifestyle is nothing new, because for centuries, everywhere in the world there have been a multitude of demands competing for our attention resources, Bell said.
My personal, completely non-scientific view based on my own life and work: there may be a small hit to performance on any given task when in the midst of multitasking, but on balance that performance hit is far outweighed by the gains from multitasking itself. Running with a ball down a court is certainly far more efficient than running and dribbling simultaneously, but in a context where it is important to accomplish both, the small cognitive performance penalty is more than worth it.