One of the most predominantly American ideals is the ability to multi-task. Now this in itself may not seem like a big problem but with the increasing use of technology in our everyday lives, it is having a serious detrimental impact on our daily lives. Most people can efficiently walk and chew gum at the same time, but when it comes to “more complicated” multi-tasking with driving and talking on your cell phone, there is a price to be paid. Psychologists have argued for years about whether these problems occur because people are inherently lazy, or if it is due to a fundamental inability to switch from one task to another.
"There is a cost for switching from one task to another and that cost can be in response time or in accuracy," said Mei-Ching Lien, an assistant professor of psychology at Oregon State University. "Even with a seemingly simple task, structural cognitive limitations can prevent you from efficiently switching to a new task."
This applies to something as advanced as talking on the cell phone and driving to trying to pick out colors and shapes at the same time. While there are individual differences in the costs of multi-tasking, typical averages do apply per task undertaken. A typical response to a stimulus takes about 300 milliseconds on average while adding a second task typically increases the response to about 800 milliseconds on average.
Despite the fact that it is possible to simplify tasks thereby leading to greater efficiency, technology is complicating everything, especially driving. The fact that drivers are using many different complicated devices at the same at which they must be navigating traffic, reading signs, and handle other distractions makes things even more difficult than they already are. This results in inattention and slow reaction times. Clearly demonstrating how unsafe our driving has become.
References
Science Daily
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This was a good article, and i do agree with the multi tasking. I have a friend who flipped their car because they were trying to talk on the cell phone and got frustrated then lost control of their car. So i know it slows down your reaction, thought process, and your ability to understand a situation.
ReplyDeleteAccording to
http://www.car-accidents.com/cell_phone_car_accidents.html it is estimated nearly 200 deaths and a half a million injuries each year due to cell phone usage while driving. If you would like this website also shows pictures of people who have been in wrecks because of cell phones, and it tells them stories.
I found your blog interesting and hope if you decide to look at that website you will have some interest in it.
Hunter Andrews
Cellular telephones and driving is only the tip of the multitasking iceberg. This particular iceberg is set dead in the middle of the humanity that is the Titanic’s path in a fog caused by multitasking itself. The much larger concern is to be held in the long term problem. In a UCLA study of twenty-somethings found that when asked to sort cards into two groups while simultaneously identifying tones that groups were able to do both but could not recall what they actually sorted.
ReplyDeleteAnother study found that prolonged multi-tasking increases levels of certain hormones in the blood which can prematurely age us. This means that not only will the multi-tasker tire, but they will also find it harder and harder as time goes by to achieve multiple tasks or any task.
A study by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that teenagers surveyed typically multi-tasked their consumption of media (Television, Music, Reading, Computers etc.) These are the future! And they are being trained to process data but never develop information!
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200711/multitasking