I Was a Sucker for Irrelevancy

Many of us desire the ability to multitask, the allure of being efficient and extremely productive, not fall into irrelevancy. Many do not realize the term multitask appeared in an IBM paper describing its capabilities, 1965. Since then, the term has been transitioned to human tasks, in hopes to give the persona of efficiency.

This buzzword has been used to boost morale and hyped to make workers more efficient. Computers can work on multiple tasks simutanously. If they can, why not train ourselves to do the same. We have the most advanced computer processor between our ears.

As time allowed we now understand the human mind cannot work on two things at the same time. Multitasking is the ability to switch from one focus to another. The human brain cannot work on two-three focused tasks at the same time. Multi-tasking is a bit misleading. You are switching.

This switching allows us to change from one focused topic to another. This phenomenon has the appearance of multitasking, but appearance only. Some are able to quickly switch between tasks, better than others.

Clifford Nass, a Stanford sociologist who conducted some of the first tests on multitasking, has said that those who can’t resist the lure of doing two things at once are “suckers for irrelevancy.”