Multitasking

Here is the latest news from yesterdays New York Times: you can do less at once than you think.

Juggling the PDA, phone, DMP, e-mail, and tricorder decreases your accuracy and productivity. Watching Lost on your phone, especially while in motion can kill you (or someone else).

Here's the lead in:

Confident multitaskers of the world, could I have your attention?

Think you can juggle phone calls, e-mail, instant messages and computer work to get more done in a time-starved world? Read on, preferably shutting out the cacophony of digital devices for a while.

Several research reports, both recently published and not yet published, provide evidence of the limits of multitasking. The findings, according to neuroscientists, psychologists and management professors, suggest that many people would be wise to curb their multitasking behavior when working in an office, studying or driving a car.

These experts have some basic advice. Check e-mail messages once an hour, at most. Listening to soothing background music while studying may improve concentration. But other distractions — most songs with lyrics, instant messaging, television shows — hamper performance. Driving while talking on a cellphone, even with a hands-free headset, is a bad idea.

In short, the answer appears to lie in managing the technology, instead of merely yielding to its incessant tug.

You know the drill: check your e-mail once an hour; let the voice mail do it's job; turn the thing off from time to time; give your thumb a rest; take deep cleansing breaths; look up once in while.

Yeah...I know...I can't do it either. Still, it is essential to remember that technology is meant to serve us and extend our capabilities, not the other way round.

Read the rest.

PS-- Notice the slide show associated with this story. Yup. That's how you look while you are reading your phone (think about that) while walking. You will know you are at the correct site when you see the introductory ad for Windows Mobile.