Report on Multitasking, Research Paper Example

In today’s technologically advanced society, individuals seek to do more in less time. Often times, this is seen as being “productive” and “efficient.” The types of actions that are undertaken in order to do many things at once are called “multitasking.” Multitasking is defined as the process by which individuals undertake two or more active activities in order to provide results in a shorter period of time. What individuals must become cognizant of, however, is that by multitasking, it has been proven time and again that productivity is not achieved. Furthermore, because of the fact that individuals are not able to stay focused on one single thing for an extended period of time, multitasking proves to be inefficient. In order to prove these claims, interviews have been carried out asking individuals about their thoughts on multitasking and how it affects their everyday lives.

The first individual who volunteered to be interviewed was Mauricio Perez from El Paso, Texas. When Perez was asked about his thoughts on multi-tasking, he immediately stated, “I believe multi-tasking is one of the few talents that is able to be developed. Take right now, for example; I’m talking to you on the phone and slicing up an orange.” Despite the fact that Perez did have a fair point in how multi-tasking could prove to be beneficial for some individuals in certain scenarios, he could have very well injured himself with the knife that he was using to cut up the orange because he might have been too distracted by the interview. It is a fair argument to say that many individuals are not well aware of how ineffective multitasking truly is. Despite the fact that Perez believed that multi-tasking was extremely beneficial in his everyday life, he quickly started doubting himself when structurally sound evidence was shared with him about how different the human mind is when trying to multitask.

While there are many who believe that multitasking is a gift that can be acquired through hard work, there are others who know for a fact that multitasking is only a way of tricking oneself into believing that more work is being achieved. Such was the case with Lester Fierro from El Paso, Texas who, when interviewed, took no hesitation when including in his response that multitasking is a way to waste time. When asked for a specific example, Mr. Fierro shed some light on a hypothetical scenario where a student might be studying for an anatomy final exam as well as a history final exam throughout the same night. Mr. Fierro explained that if Bob (the student) would study for the two subjects throughout the night, each at intervals of ten minutes, then Bob would invariably not learn much. This would be due to the fact that by the time that his brain would barely be memorizing the things from one subject, new material would be introduced, therefore confusing Bob’s brain. Fierro clarified how sticking to one individual subject respectively would help Bob pass his exams with flying colors because he would not be constantly interrupting his studies to go on to learn about a completely unrelated topic. Through his responses, Fierro was able to effectively prove how multitasking does indeed diminish focus which ultimately leads individuals to make all kinds of mistakes in everyday life.

A third Person who was interviewed was Emilio Urias, from Ann Arbor, Michigan. This individual was quick to state that multi-tasking does not exist. When asked to elaborate, Urias pointed out the manner by which it is impossible for the human brain to focus on two things at once. His argument was that the human brain has the capacity to change focus from one thing to another spontaneously, but that it is simply not able to focus on two individual things at the same time. Therefore, he was able to disprove the whole definition for multitasking, which implies that it is possible to do two or more active activities at the same time. In addition, Urias was able to explain the manner in which doing more than one activity would actually prove to be more stressful because the individual would be putting in his or her efforts into trying to finalize several tasks at once. Instead, however, if that same individual would opt to work on one specific task at a time, that person would prove to be more effective in everyday life and would not be so stressed throughout the course of his or her life.

With the research that was collected through the extensive interviews, it was easy to come to the conclusion that multi-tasking does not prove to be effective in the lives of many individuals. In fact, it has been proved that multitasking should be seen as nothing more than a waste of time by those individuals who seek to be more effective and productive with their own individual time. In addition, multi-tasking increase the probability that individuals will be more prone to making mistakes throughout the day. Despite the fact that Perez believed that multitasking is indeed possible in every individual’s life, he doubted the possibility of that when evidence was presented to him. Therefore, there should be no greater resolve than to adopt the ideology that multitasking does nothing but increase stress and diminish individual’s focus in everyday life. This research was able to effectively portray the manner in which multitasking is not very convenient in everyday use. A better alternative would be for individuals to begin focusing on one single subject before moving on to the next. By doing so, these individuals will find that they will be invariably maximizing their potential in terms of being able to get more things done in a shorter period of time. In addition, individuals will learn the value of paying attention to the task at hand.

Work cited

Perez, Mauricio. Personal Interview.  El Paso, Texas.  22 June 2015.

Fierro, Lester. Personal Interview.  El Paso, Texas.  22 June 2015.

Urias, Emilio. Personal Interview.  Ann Arbor, Michigan.  22 June 2015.