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How Well Do You Multitask?


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Can you work on multiple problems at once or do you try to focus on one thing at a time? Afaik, think I tend to only focus on one thing at a time and move on to the next.

 

"Multitasking seems like a great way to get a lot done at once. But research has shown that our brains are not nearly as good at handling multiple tasks as we like to think they are. In fact, some researchers suggest that multitasking can actually reduce productivity by as much as 40%."- Cherry, Very Well Mind

 

Some articles suggest that it's not even possible for the human mind.

 

"Multitasking is often a matter of perception or can even be thought of as an illusion." Srna, University of Michigan.

 

But if it's an illusion, how are we able to do things like think/talk and drive at the same time? That doesn't seem like an illusion to me. What do you think? Can we do it or not and how well?

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Gutezeiten KoolHndLuke,

 

The article did not say it was not possible for the human mind to multi task, instead it stated that productivity is reduced. 

 

for the part of it being an illusion I can only surmise that it is talking about the falsity of "multi tasking". IE, driving and listening to music at the same time. this is not actually multitasking. the task is driving while listening to music is a passive activity. while you are doing two things at once you are not focusing on one task at once. it is also while task like talking on the phone is more dangerous while driving then listening to music. you don't need to "think" while you listen to music but you do need to "think" while you talk to a another party. but back to the illusion of multitasking, while you are driving and listening to music at the same time you are not activity involved in one activity so its not doing two activities at once but one activity, thus and illusion.

 

There is also the fact that the term "multi tasking" is to broad of a definition. you can multi task a project by splitting it up into parts and focusing on one part first then move on to the next.

 

Just think about it this way, If you try to cook Green Eggs and Ham for breakfast and finish a school paper at the same time, the paper will take longer then if you were just focusing on it as the brakefast has a chance of being cooked wrong - not only that but one task might over take the other.

 

Love,

Pythus, das hirnlos

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I heard a speaker on youtube and I forget who it was, who said that multi-tasking is a myth.  As is stated above me, he stated that at any given moment you are concentrating on only one thing at a time and then you may switch to something else and then back again.  This may occur in a very short time span, but you are still only concentrating on one thing at a given moment.  To me it sounded right.  I'm not saying it is right, I'm just saying I have no background or knowledge on how to dispute it.

 

Again, it all depends (as was stated in the post above me) on how you define multitasking.

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8 hours ago, KoolHndLuke said:

think/talk

I have strong doubts that we can do that at the same time

Pretty sure we do it in succession. Just try thinking of a house while saying something about a nice trip to the zoo. You will have issues thinking about the House and instead have pictures of a Zoo.. or stop talking. The "Oh no, what tf am I saying rn" is more an occurrence because you visualize what you hear/say in your mind and only when having a picture in front of you you realize how stupid the things you just said are

Thats why reading things out loud makes you see more mistakes in your language than just silently reading them in your head :)

 

Driving on the other hand is handled by a different section of your brain (I believe). Its not really something you "think" about

Id say the bottom line would be that one section of the brain can only focus on one thing at a time. You also stop chewing gum when you work on something else, like your car though thats harder to recognize as you usally start chewing the moment you realize that you have a gum in your mouth but Im sure we all had that moment at one point. I often realize that when I do stuff on my phone

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Depends on the level of tasks at hand. From a technical standpoint focusing on two different things simultaneously is not possible, what we call multitasking is the act of quickly shifting our focus from one point to another in order to keep up different tasks simultaneously. So if i'm dealing with tasks that don't require too much focus then i can multitask quite easily. When i'm dealing with serious stuff i'm not focused on anything else.

 

For example, it's very easy for me to drive, think and talk when on road since none of these by themselves require a lot of focus from me. But when i'm in a track i'm fully soaked in driving and nothing else since it's much more demanding on my senses and one mistake can cause a lot of damages. There are few points where i can shift my focus momentarily and talk on the radio, like on the straights which are the easiest points.

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I can multitask like a pro on the computer. It wouldn't be too much for me to juggle 10-20 browser tabs along with a handful of other programs. But there are certainly times where I'll find myself having a brain spasm wondering what I was doing and what I was about to do.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Depends on depth.  If I'm scanning something, keeping an eye on particular indicators, I can have a basic idea of what the last reading was on all the different indicators, and how that fits into the big picture.  But if there's something that draws attention to something in particular, I'll zone right in, and everything else is just gone.  Not in the periphery, but GONE, until I back off and start scanning again.

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I'm not the greatest at multi-tasking personally. I mean, I'm listening to a movie and can't even spell "tasking" properly because I was distracted haha... I know there are definitely people who can (I mean, have you never seen a tv show/movie where there's a mom with the wailing 2 year old, talking on the phone AND cooking all at the same time? I've seen that irl...) I'm just not one of them!

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  • 3 weeks later...

I used to multitask quite well.  Of course my brain was going so fast, people couldn't understand me.  My mouth couldn't keep up my thoughts.  Could be why I have such difficulty today, just trying to remember common words.  I think I may have burnt out a few wires. 

 

I wonder what the life expectancy is for someone who thinks like Sherlock Holmes.  My doctor said my memory is bad because I've cluttered my brain with too much stuff.  So, according to the doctors, our brains have a limited hard drive.  Yet, our subconscious supposedly remembers everything we have ever experienced.  

 

But, anyway, it seems possible to contemplate at least two issues simultaneously.  Kind of back of the head thoughts (kinda whispy, but still tangible) and the thoughts that are at the forefront.  The key to multitasking is switching these thoughts back and forth.  Be warned, could make you ill.  Ok, I remember once typing two letters at once.  There was a desktop pc and a laptop.  It was a long time ago.  And I can't say I did that more than that one time.  Probably gave me a headache. 

 

The brain is a powerful thing.  Since our minds and bodies are here to serve us, I used to force them to perform to my perfectionistic ways.  This was also a worthy challenge.  My mind and body were mine to control, unlike everything else in the world.  And I probably did some damage to myself.  Like the rest of the body, you shouldn't over stress your brain.

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  • 1 year later...

I agree with the OP, study after study shows that multi-tasking reduces productivity of each related task moderately to severely.

 

It is far more efficient to complete one task with full attention, then move on to the next.  Of course, you can factor in things like wait times or load times where you are not actively engaged with said task and work on other things.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Humans can not multi-task.

I hear sometimes from someone that he can. But thats just an illusion.

 

And not healthy.

 

I know, that i can't. Just driving a car takes all concentration not to collide with someone.

And in today's world, people think they need to do multi-task to fit in with the crowd.

It reminds me, that i despise people they think they can and talk to you but constantly look at their phones. Very rude.

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  • 1 month later...

I'm developping my ability to multi-task both inside and outside of erotic boundaries and I'm not doing too bad in either case, I believe there's capacity to be able to live one's life simplifying many instances by doing multiple tasks at the same time but it varies on the actions performed. Some actions require more attention than others and some individuals may excell at certain tasks better than others. I was typing on here, practising my coding skills, riding and slurping schlongs at the same time just yesterday in fact.

 

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  • 1 month later...

Does it count as multitasking if I do quickly things in a row and pretend to multitask? ^^

 

I want a 3rd screen to be even more confused.

 

I can multitask if talking isn't involved. Talking is the bane of all my half backed plans lurking around in my mind.

Even worse if someone asks what the heck I'm doing lol

A "sup" can be deadly.

Edited by donttouchmethere
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6 minutes ago, donttouchmethere said:

Does it count as multitasking if I do quickly things in a row and pretend to multitask? ^^

 

I want a 3rd screen to be even more confused.

 

I can multitask if talking isn't involved. Talking is the bane of all my half backed plans lurking around in my mind.

Even worse if someone asks what the heck I'm doing lol

A "sup" can be deadly.

 

?

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  • 3 weeks later...
2 hours ago, zelphador23 said:

2 hands, 1 mouth, 1 pussy, 1 ass hole. I can multitask pretty well I think. Lol

 

I know right.

 

There's also the feet, armpits, knee pits, elbow pits, the buttcheeks themselves, individual pairs of fingers/toes or the whole legs that can be used independently from other such attractions.

 

...What? Don't look at me like that, it's not like I'm a sex plushy -- oh, right, nevermind. Ever use each or most of these at the same time? One needs stamina, I swear...

Edited by Idyll
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