Innovation by SIT

Have you ever wondered what someone born in the 1800’s would think if they saw what human life is like today? Do you think they would value all the new technology that pervades modern life? Or might they consider 21st century civilization, with all of its hustle and bustle and multi-tasking required, a sad place to be? Hold on, I have a text message, I’ll be back to finish this blog post in a minute…

In this day and age one can easily participate simultaneously in various conversations or activities (i.e talking on the phone while chatting on the web, talking on the phone while having a Skype video call, driving while talking on the phone). Multi-tasking is hard to avoid in a modern, technology-filled world. For those of us who have given in, and who willingly call ourselves “multitaskers”, have we lost something by being willing to multi task? Perhaps there is something we have gained- some sort of upper hand over those who still insist on focusing on one thing at a time.

A recent New York Times article by Matt Richtel entitled “Hooked on Gadgets, and Paying a Mental Price” discusses the impact of technology on the lives of modern-day humans. Technology has created a great deal more distractions than existed before we had the internet at our fingertips, and the desire to always be connected leads people to depend on their multitasking abilities. As Richtel explains, it is commonly believed that “humans can process only a single stream of information at a time”.   However, Stanford researcher Eyal Ophir challenges this concept. He suggests the possibility that through constant multitasking, humans might actually be “rewiring” themselves to be effective while performing multiple tasks.

During an experiment Ophir conducted to test people’s ability to focus on a single thing at a time, participants were categorized in advanced as either “mutlitaskers” or “non-multitaskers” based on their answers to experiment questions. As the Times article relates, those in the “multitasker” category were worse at the task than those classified as “non-multitaskers”. For example, when asked to look at moving rectangles of blue and red, and to focus only on one color so as to determine if that color rectangle had moved positions, the multitaskers scored lower than non-multitaskers.

The flip side of this, researchers say, is that the inability of multitaskers to maintain their focus on one item in front of them means that they are likewise more receptive to new information coming their way. According to the article, “other tests at Stanford, an important center for research in this fast-growing field, showed multitaskers tended to search for new information rather than accept a reward for putting older, more valuable information to work.”

In other words, multitasking might enable us to be alert and attentive to new things in our surroundings. Therefore, when we are exposed to innovative ideas, we are ready and willing to receive them. If that’s the case, then multitaskers should stand proud, and embrace the advantages of a multi-focused life… or should they? In the 1800’s there were no cell phones and there was no internet- two things that today most of us probably can’t imagine living without. But the lack of these technologies meant fewer distractions. Likewise, this offered a better shot at focusing on, for example, one’s children, one’s spouse, or the pretty flowers we pass when walking down the street, but often miss because we are typing away on our (insert choice of electronic device here).

So, in which of these lifestyles can you identify yourself? Are you happy there?