Was my dad right?

[HotelMinion]

Well I'm interested in getting opinions about this. When I was little I would be coloring in a book and watching tv, and my dad would say " either you watch tv or color, pick one!! Not both!!" And so I would pick one. This carried over to my adulthood and at work I would focus on one task, and the boss would say, " hurry up, faster faster! You have to do this and this and this at the same time!" And so I would mess up doing multiple things at once, because my brains wasn't trained to multitask. And so I would get fired.
When I scolded my dad about it, he says, "well they shouldn't make you do twelve things at once. One should just focus on ONE and do it well." Personally, I agree, and at the same time I feel it's not realistic. Bosses want their employees to be cross trained, triple trained, to do everything and if they can't handle it, out the door they go.
So what do you all think? And parents, would you let your kids to do many things at once, or be like my dad?

[Trixie]

I think there's very few jobs out there that don't require you to be able to do a few things at once. I mean at my job sometimes I could have three things going on. I could be working on something, get called to the front to ring people up, then have to help someone in photo. I focus one thing at a time but I still need to be able to drop it to go work on something else.

As a kid, the TV was always on. My mother would either read or maybe do crafts in the living room, my father would nap (though that may not count as much) and I'd do my homework or play. Still do it do this day. Like right now I'm eating dinner while reading the boards here and listening to music.

So it's important to focus on one thing but you need to be able to do something else if it comes up.

[Orgaloth]

I've my boys are colouring and watching TV, that's fine. But not TV and YouTube on their tablets in the same room. My eldest tried to tell me that he can watch both, but when I asked him what show was on the TV he couldn't tell me. Certain things occupy the mind more than others.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

The TV is background noise while you're coloring, so I don't see how that relates to a workplace. By that logic there shouldn't be music playing in the background when I'm trying to work.

I do agree with your father that people should be allowed to focus on one thing and do it well. But that staffing model is pretty much extinct outside of very specialized workplaces, like construction.

[notalwaysright]

To go with the posts so far, multi-tasking is pretty much essential nowadays. I am very, very guilty of having many things going on at home and I can certainly say I don't pay attention to everything equally. There's probably tons of research on this.

Regarding music at work... Some people play music on their phones before we open. I cannot handle it. Why? Do I hate music? No! But the store speakers are on, meaning the piped in music is also playing. The two musics compete with each other, and it makes me tense and irritable. Not to mention phone speakers sound horrible. I'm such a strange person compared to many because I don't use music as white noise. I will turn on a song with the intention of using it as white noise and find myself staring into space (or closing my eyes) listening to the music. I like tv as white noise. I have no explanation for this, other than I'm a weird person.

[BlaqueKatt]

he may have been right for *his* time, but things change, and all the "shouda, couda, wouda, arguing in the world won't change reality.

As a *lowly security guard* I can't focus on one thing, my job is to focus on EVERYTHING, while signing in visitors, checking credentials, radioing dispatch, screening vehicles, and on occasion going through someone's luggage. I have 8 clipboards, three radios, two gates, and a binder full of women rules.

I can have up to 9 trucks waiting to deliver or pick up up to 5 different products and I have to KNOW who was first and what product, and they don't park in any specific order.

[Aria]

Ah, multi-tasking... what does it mean, exactly? If it means being able to switch quickly between tasks, I would agree that it's essential. But if you literally SPLIT your attention between two tasks, you'll do them both badly. It sounds to me like that's the kind of multi-tasking your father objected to.

That being said, I think he took it a bit too far because watching TV is not really a task at all, unlike coloring.

[Aragarthiel]

Multi-tasking is absolutely an essential skill, regardless of what job you have. Even things as simple as cooking dinner require multitasking- make sure the taco meat doesn't burn, chop lettuce/tomatoes/whatever, nuke the tortillas so they're nice and toasty, open a can of beans... maybe not all at the exact same time but your mind is focused on all of them simultaneously. Same with housecleaning. Your mind might be on several different tasks that you need to perform just to get one room clean. Run errands? Okay, you have to stop at the grocery store for X, Y, and Z, then run over to the hardware store for THING, and stop to get gas. While none of those is exactly doing several things at once, it IS splitting your attention in the same manner.

[EricKei]

Ah, multi-tasking... what does it mean, exactly?

In the words of every Corporate boss, ever: "Work smarter, not harder!" ... In other words, multi-tasking is a snap because he says it is. Note that he doesn't need to do it himself, nor explain how to do it; he just needs to inspire greatness in others.

[Arcus]

Multi-tasking is required nowdays, but it's not the best way to do things. Study after study has shown that the time it takes to get a project done increases when you try to multi-task. The time to get three jobs done separately is shorter than doing them all at the same time. The error rate also increases. A good boss will know this, but sadly most think that multi-tasking is better because it looks better.

You dad was right, but that kind of right isn't how things are done anymore (unless you get very lucky.)

[Aria]

Multi-tasking is absolutely an essential skill, regardless of what job you have. Even things as simple as cooking dinner require multitasking- make sure the taco meat doesn't burn, chop lettuce/tomatoes/whatever, nuke the tortillas so they're nice and toasty, open a can of beans... maybe not all at the exact same time but your mind is focused on all of them simultaneously. Same with housecleaning. Your mind might be on several different tasks that you need to perform just to get one room clean. Run errands? Okay, you have to stop at the grocery store for X, Y, and Z, then run over to the hardware store for THING, and stop to get gas. While none of those is exactly doing several things at once, it IS splitting your attention in the same manner.

That's not really hard to do though. I call that my 'planning mode'... I'm doing one thing but occassionally glancing at something else, or plotting my next move. I think everyone does that. Similarly, when I'm working, I might be handling a ticket when a chat comes in. I give the chat my full attention but if the dealer starts keeping ME waiting - happens too much, let me tell you - I'll pop back to the ticket and for a brief period, give that my full attention, just glancing to see if the dealer has finally said something.

True multi-tasking, though, is literally splitting your attention between two tasks and as someone already said, every study has proven we are terrible at it. Likely why most people don't really do that unless they have to.

[Shangri-laschild]

Multi-tasking is required nowdays, but it's not the best way to do things. Study after study has shown that the time it takes to get a project done increases when you try to multi-task. The time to get three jobs done separately is shorter than doing them all at the same time. The error rate also increases. A good boss will know this, but sadly most think that multi-tasking is better because it looks better.

You dad was right, but that kind of right isn't how things are done anymore (unless you get very lucky.)

I think to some extent that depends on the person and the job as far as it not being the best. If I don't switch between tasks, I get distracted easier and have trouble focusing on each thing. Switching around lets me stay focused where as one at a time would result in me slacking quite a bit and having a lot of trouble getting much done. When I do the dispatching part of my job, I actually can usually handle multiple things at once (talking on the phone while acknowledging radio traffic and typing stuff into the computer) and I would have a lot of trouble trying to do everything one at a time and a lot wouldn't get done. We had someone at work who was so bad at it that she couldn't write/type and listen at the same time and I mean a sentence or two at most, not paragraphs. Doesn't exactly work for police dispatching and usually there is a lot more going on than just entering in information you're getting on the radio.

[Sliceanddice]

So what do you all think? And parents, would you let your kids to do many things at once, or be like my dad?

Seeing as I only every one thing at time when in a movie theater watching a movie and as a kid needed two things to keep me on track I'm ok with multitasking.

[Yfandes]

I cant imagine any stay at home mother has the luxury of doing one thing at a time very often.

[MoonCat]

I recently read that the human brain actually does not multi-task well. It is not wired to do so. Can't recall where I saw it, if I find a link I'll post it. The gist was that modern business is asking us all to do something that we are not physically capable of doing efficiently or well, so is therefore a bad idea. But I don't see anybody being convinced by that