Quote:
Originally posted by SinisterMotives
I hope a certain individual who prides themself on their multitasking ability reads this thread and finally sees what I've been getting at lo these many moons. 
I don't see multitasking as a boon to the practitioner at all. Deep processing is far superior to shallow processing for integrating experience with knowledge. Habitual multitaskers rob themselves of the experience of living in the moment and being where they are, they don't absorb or retain anything they see or hear, and they tend to do everything half-assed when they do more than one thing at once. I can always tell from someone's responses whether they're paying attention or doing something else when I'm talking to them on the phone or instant messenger.
I find that anything worth doing requires that I be conscious of what I'm doing and not distracted with a million and one other things. I certainly couldn't write complex programs or do anything creative unless I gave it my full attention. If you ask me, "multitasker" is practically synonymous with "airhead".
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I beg to differ. It depends on the individual. There are people who do not enrich themselves by multitasking.
The richness of my memories comes from my ability to process extra items that most people just dismiss. I have very detailed memories even from when I was 2-3 years old.
If you walk with me in the city, or any place, I will notice more things than you will. I overhear converstations as I'm walking down the street as I'm noticing a restaurant that I'll be making mental notes for future dining. I'll also notice historical and architectual items and small minute details that people with me are amazed that I even saw or found out. A good number of the items listed in
http://www.forgotten-ny.com/ I noticed many years ago, and plenty of my fellow native NY'ers never even noticed them even walking past them every day to work.
I had one professor in college get upset with me because I was doodling in her class as she gave a lecture. She claimed that I wasn't taking any notes. I then regurgitated her lecture back to her not word for word, but I hit all the key concepts as I retraced in my head all the points of my drawing and how the correlated to her lecture. I aced all her tests, but she still gave me a B in the class because everyone else took furious notes in her lectures and I did not.
There are times where I need to focus ALL my attention, during work, meetings and the like. I try when interacting with people to minimize any other distractions and actively listen.