Essay Sample on Multi-Tasking

Introduction

Ordinarily, people are involved in various activities at the same time resulting from the current situation in the entire world. Being able to be involved in several events at the same time is a question that has remained unanswered despite continuous research. Multi-tasking can be defined as the ability to handle the different expectations of several tasks continuously in the same period. It can also be described as a critical ability that helps people to cope with the complexity being experienced in the world. An essential practical example is during driving, where one has to focus on the lane and at the same time turn. The complicated part which is here geared have to be changed and the three mirrors concentrating on a sharp bend all at once. It is really interesting how we manage to do this. Multi-tasking much as we see it as a necessary action also has its detriments and gains (Lee & Taagten, 2012). This paper seeks to describe the advantages and disadvantages of multi-tasking, including an example.

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Many dangers result from multi-tasking much as we consider it as a means that helps a person during a time that they need to do something. It is argued that there are dangers that come in handy with being involved in more than one task at a time. Lord Chesterfield gave advice saying: "in a day there is enough time to do everything expected only if one does each activity at a time but in an entire year if a person engages in more than one activity, the time is not enough." There is truth to the wise words of Lord Chesterfield because a mind that is steady giving constant attention to a task would not be compared to a hurry, getting angry fast are the symptoms of an account that is perky and frail mind. In the current day, being in a hurry, distress and moving from one place to another are the common things in the name of multi-tasking to meet the demands. Some dangers result from multi-tasking like when a person uses a cell phone, yet at the same time they are driving, fatal accidents have occurred. As a result, making such activity be termed as illegal. In a business setting, when it comes to the management of time, a person multi-tasking is hardly able to keep time; therefore, it is detrimental to business (Rosen, 2008).

The people, especially in the corporate world, believe that multi-tasking is the ability to work even for other people. Scientific research reveals that being involved in various duties at the same time reduces productivity and not as may be thought of to reduce the cost of paying employees. This is a massive risk because an employee could be placing the employer at a more significant threat to encounter losses rather than profits. Taking a scenario where a person has to answer calls on different phones, pass messages to the fellow employees, and then work on several files on their desk. There is a lot of witching of the mind resulting in poor concentration leading to poor work. Depending on how complex the task is, there is the switching cost that increases with the complexity. Therefore engaging in conversations through the phone that may affect the concentration to particular tasks affects the overall output because the concentration decreases, and the mind also switches. This is where the substance output gets affected because the concentration is low. Engaging in tasks that are different in complexity and familiarity also affects the attention that a person gives to the job (Anderson, 2001).

While there are a lot of concerns and issues raised against multi-tasking, there are still advantages. Women are considered to be better at multi-tasking than a man is only a presumption. However, it is all based on the liking of an individual, especially where there is more exposure to multi-tasking. If a person is forced to engage in various activities without their liking, tend to perform poorly than would be expected. Although the human ability to multi-task is limited, receiving training can minimize the costs associated with multi-tasking. Some of the benefits that result from multitasking are, for example, being able to process information faster and engaging in various activities. There can be a reduction of costs through training individuals with the interest of being engaged in more than one action to be involved in the activity. Training helps to improve the performance of the tasks allocated to a person; hence there is less interference, and the output will not be affected. Training helps to improve the task of the brain that increases the coordinate efficient and the deliberating processing that the brain does. The brain is activated through training for multi-tasking, therefore, leading to the brain always being active. Despite the detriments of multi-tasking, there are still advantages at a personal level (Dux, Tomb, Harrison, Rogers, Tong, Marois, 2009).

Conclusion

It is in the minds of many people, especially those who are not engaged in various activities to claim that multitasking is dangerous. In some cases like driving and engaging on a conversation through phone, it is dangerous although there are advantages Silverman (2010). In the corporate world there can be a solution to the losses that may arise from multi-tasking only to minimize them through training.it is evident that through multi-tasking, some parts of the brain are able enhanced including brain activity. This is a positive aspect to the person engaging in various activities. Being active in activities that are of the same caliber of complexity, there are minimal losses. The difference comes in where the activities are of two different fields where the brain is required to switch.

Works Cited

Anderson, P. Multitasking is Counterproductive. (2001). Accessed from http://www.umich.edu/~bcalab/articles/CNNArticle2001.pdf

Dux, P., Tombu, M., Harrison, S., Rogers, B., Tong, F. and Marois, R. Training improves multitasking performance by increasing the speed of information processing in the human prefrontal cortex. (2009). Accessed from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2713348/pdf/nihms127514.pdf

Travis, Bradberry. Multi-Tasking Damages Your Brain and Career, New Studies Suggest. 2014. Accessed from https://www.forbes.com/sites/travisbradberry/2014/10/08/multitasking-damages-your-brain-and-career-new-studies-suggest/#32f28eae56ee

Peter, Bregman. How (and Why) to Stop Multi-Tasking. 2010. Accessed from https://hbr.org/2010/05/how-and-why-to-stop-multitaski

ER Services. Educational Planning: Critical Reading. 2019. Accessed from https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-esc-educationalplanning/chapter/critical-reading/

Lee, F. & Taagten, N. Multitasking as Skill Acquisition. (2012). Accessed from http://act-r.psy.cmu.edu/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/372fjl_nat_2002_a.pdf

Rosen, C. The Myth of Multitasking. (2008). The New Atlantis Journal of Technology and Society 1-6. Accessed from https://faculty.winthrop.edu/hinera/crtwspring_2011/themythofmultitasking_rosen.pdf

Silverman, D. In Defense of Multitasking. (2010). Accessed from https://hbr.org/2010/06/in-defense-of-multitasking.html