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Old 03-10-2006, 06:32 PM   #16 (permalink)
Tamerlain
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Location: Victoria
As has been mentioned already, what is commonly referred to as multitasking is really just juggling. The english language can be blamed for not supplying a proper definition.

The wife who cooks dinner, vacuums, helps the children with their homework and pays the bills is juggling multiple tasks, she is not multitasking. I take multitasking to be doing two things at the same time, which is impossible for a human being to do. A computer can do multiple things at once, a human cannot. Well no, I take that back. A human can do two things at once (walk and talk), but a human cannot focus on two things at once. It is impossible for a human to write two different sentences with each hand; it is impossible to solve two different mathematical equations on two separate pieces of paper, etc. Sorry for the tangent.

In comparing males and females, I have noticed that it is more common for females to be better at juggling tasks than males. This could be attributed to tradition - dad comes home from working all day and sits down to relax, mom is cooking dinner, helping kids with homework and cleaning; sociological - many societies place higher values on "bringing home the bacon" and as such this is a task which must be focused upon intently; or, as has been mentioned, environmental - men were expected to provide food for the tribe, which required intense focus to track and kill.

In general, however, I find that people who are better able to deal with stress are better at juggling tasks. It is easy to be overwhelmed by having to accomplish lots of things in a short period of time. The better one is able to manage one's time, the more successful one will be at juggling tasks.

-Tamerlain
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