Kayla Speciale
Attention-switching is often easier for younger children, around the ages of 13-18; they use more than six types of media when not in school. however, the human brain cannot be in "two places at once." (Sparks). Doing one task after another completed task, takes up less time than multitasking. When multitasking, it's easy to miss or overlook something or when it comes to making decisions, they may be rash and quick. The original marshmallow test in 1971, tested self-control, by asking a child to hold off on eating a marshmallow for 15 minutes in reward of two marshmallow. Those preschoolers who did wait, showed academic success and life success in the following years compared to thoses who did not. Just like in the 2011 study of college students, test results showed students who answered many texts during a video had a 10% lower score on the test that followed. But students who replied quicker, scored even lower on the test. With texting having become a big distraction to teens, we are more worried about looking at our phones and loose focus on what is being taught. “Part of this switch time is remembering what you were reading, getting your head back into the task of reading, not just moving your eyes” said Mr. Yantis. Once a concentration is broken, it takes more time to go back to what was happening before. Self-control plays a huge role in managing life. Not being 100% focused can distract out brain to something else. Technology is becoming a huge distraction in today’s world. Parents should start to limit their children’s time with there electronics. (Sparks).
To me, people do multitask, but not in the way we think. If you think about it, most people have trouble walking and chewing gum or talking at the same time, and that’s multitasking. Think about when we try to do something more important at the same time. We may skip over it, or mess it up. We switch our attention from one thing to another and back to the first thing, Which we call multitasking. I am a hostess at a small family owned business. Being a hottest evolves being quick on your feet and able to handle many things at once. Answering phones, cashing out costumers, seating guest, bussing tables, helping waitress, and putting to-go food together. Some nights are harder than others. For example; last Friday, I had two people on hold, one person wanting to check out, a table of five waiting to be seated, and a waitress asking me to follow her to here table with a pizza, all within a two minute period. Being able to switch up tasks quickly and efficiently is important for the night to run smooth. I put the phone on hold, switched my attention to seating the table, then on to helping the waitress deliver the food, on to packaging the food, then remembering the two on hold orders. Being able to switch back and forth to one completely different thing to another is a very good skill to acquire. In the article, Studies on Multitasking Highlight Value of Self-Control, Davidson says, "We are well trained to a certain kind of attention: task-specific attention, silent and alone.” Everyone has a task they are better at. Working together or asking help too complete more the one task, well better help to keep the wheel spinning.
Work Sited
Sparks, Sarah. "Studies on Multitasking Highlight Value of Self-Control." Education Week. 15 May 2012. Web. 9 Nov. 2015. <http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2012/05/16/31multitasking_ep.h31.html>.