Technology and stress

[Martin]

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/pacificnw/2004/1128/cover.html

The above article outlines a scientist's thoughts on technology and stress.

It raises some interesting questions about focus, commitment, interruption and health.

I also found it an interesting perspective on the instant-gratification generation.

[lrd]

Thanks for the link, Martin.

[Jack Moroney (RIP)]

Here is the summary of that article:"We're stressing people out with multitasking demands over time," says Grafman of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke in Maryland. And it will cause further decline in our health and performance, he says, if we keep it up. "The brain gets confused and looks for default mechanisms. It becomes hard to focus; we take shortcuts."

I'm sorry but this is a crock. Just try doing one thing at a time on a battlefield and I guarantee you that single task approaches to a resolve a multitask problem will kill you a whole lot faster than talking on you cell phone and driving your car.
As a matter of fact, I cannot think of anything that is not in a controlled environment that is not multitasking in nature. If these social scientists (and from my limited perspective calling these folks scientists is akin to calling a trash collector an ecological manager ) should be doing anything they should be developing programs to teach folks how to execute multitaskings in a dynamic and uncertain environments.

Jack Moroney-s i t t i n g h e r e h i t i n g a s i n g l e k e y a t a t i m e

[Goggles Pizano]

I'm sorry but this is a crock. Just try doing one thing at a time on a battlefield and I guarantee you that single task approaches to a resolve a multitask problem will kill you a whole lot faster than talking on you cell phone and driving your car.
As a matter of fact, I cannot think of anything that is not in a controlled environment that is not multitasking in nature.


Agreed Sir. Used to be termed "thinking on your feet" IIRC.