Extra Credit-Multitasking Forum

Emily Buttorff
Instructional Media Extra Credit
Section 01
3/2/2010
I attended the extra credit seminar on Multi-tasking. It really was not at all what I expected it to be. I really enjoyed it and I was able to learn a lot. First Dr. Pillai began talking. He discussed the fact that multi-tasking wasn’t even invented until 1966. His focus was is this parallel processing instead of multi-tasking? He made some great points about how the brain can’t really do two things at once. “Humans can parallel process but are terrible at multitasking,” he really got me thinking. Are we as humans really that great at multi-tasking? At the conclusion of his presentation he talked about the STROOP test. I remembered learning it but I never thought of multi-tasking in that aspect. I always thought of multitasking as being able to watch tv and do homework and never really associated it to involving the brain. Dr. Pillai’s speech had my mind rolling and ready to think for the next presentation.
The next speaker did not introduce himself but he was the one whose speech related to me and hit home. He pointed out a lot of facts I never really thought true. He talked about facebook, im, texting, etc. I found it interesting to hear that 93% of the students surveyed engage in non-computer activity multitasking. I guess I never really considered it multitasking when I did homework and texted or talked on the phone. His statistics were unbelievable I really couldn’t believe how many students schoolwork suffered because of multitasking.
Dr. Moore was the final speaker. He was very blunt about his information. The one statistic he shared was very alarming. He said that if you are driving 70mph on the highway and you are multitasking (texting) and you try to correct yourself you won’t correct yourself for about 60feet. I never realized the harm you put yourself in when you text and drive. He made a lot of great points that made me think twice when I drove home after the speech. He ended with a quote “If you switch you cost, you cost, you could cost a life.” I really enjoyed the forum I learned so much about multitasking that I never even thought about.