A closer look into the culture of multitasking

Victoria Seiketso Sethibe | Thursday February 11, 2016 15:57

The culture of multitasking is increasingly programming people to be partially focussed, among other downfalls. Below are some  examples of multitasking scenarios:

A driver hurriedly decides to send a text message on his cellphone , while awaiting for the green light at the traffic lights.  By the time he takes his eyes off the cellphone the traffic lights are already on amber and the drivers on the rear view are impatiently beeping their hooters, sending him on a panic mode. The driver impulsively attempts to beat the amber lights, only to bump onto an oncoming car from another direction. This type of multitasking is known as concurrent multitasking. Multitasking can lead to life threatening situations as indicated in the above mentioned example whereby a driver bumps onto another car, while performing multiple tasks.

Another  example is that of a medical surgeon (although maybe a bit exaggerated), who would leave his patient during surgery to go and submit a tender document for catering. This type of approach is called sequential multitasking , whereby an individual would be alternating between tasks, usually by interrupting the task at hand.

The story below highlights some of the effects multitasking can have on youth:

Kelapile* is an 18 year old mother of an eight month’s old baby. She lives with her working parents and her baby.  On a typical weekday Kelapile has to work six hours a day to raise funds for her baby’s needs. She works as a waitress at a local restaurant from seven o’clock in the morning to one o’clock in the afternoon.  When she reaches home at around half past one during lunch time she has to relief her baby’s nanny, who would be going for a part time job elsewhere. Spending time with her baby means Kelapile has to alternate between breast feeding, changing diapers and playing with the baby before hopefully putting it to  sleep at around three o’clock.  If the baby gets to sleep, Kelapile would then attend to her academic assignments before heading off for some  academic classes at five o’clock in the evening. During  that time, her parents would arrive from work to take over the nursing duties. Kelapile*, like her name suggests, is always complaining of fatigue from sequential multitasking and insomnia from insufficient sleep at night when the baby would typically interrupt her sleep at random hours. Kelapile is also developing depression because she is constantly under pressure from her duties as a waitress, a mother and a student. She also feels really lonely because she hardly ever gets a chance to socialise like many people her age. Her overwhelming responsibilities have transformed Kelapile into a partially attentive individual,  something  that her supervisors at work, her academic tutors and her baby are constantly complaining about, in their own different ways. As a result, Kelapile is no longer able to complete a good quality task.

Kelapile’s story represents the lives of many people who are under pressure to survive in this era. Clearly her multitasking life is more stressful, more lonely and a less efficient way of achieving goals. The culture of multitasking seems to be increasingly turning into a counterproductive hype for youth. Efficiency requires full attention to detail, something a number of young people admit they are struggling with. Although multitasking is inevitable at some stage, the good old fashioned way of slowing down to detailed and well executed monotasks could be a solution to the easily distracted minds of modern day youth.

*Not his real names