© 2024 Iowa Public Radio
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Multitasking

I've always been amused when people talk positively about multitasking, as if it is an admirable skill. In my estimation, a good multitasker is someone who, by some stroke of luck [or genius, I suppose], can disguise how easily he is distracted. He is able to listen to the radio, answer his phone calls, type emails, watch YouTube videos, refresh blogs, and -- by some minor miracle -- look engaged and interested, and get his work done on time. We all try to multitask. And as some of us succeed, others of us, having prepared scripts, printed them, edited tape and blog posts, realize, 12 minutes into the show, that we haven't written our blog posts yet. But I digress....

New studies show that multitasking isn't good for you. That it can be dangerous, even. Jon Hamilton, a correspondent on NPR's science desk, has been reporting a four-part series on the subject for Morning Edition. He'll join us in the second hour, to talk about how people juggle so much. Do you? How?

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Tags
David Gura
Based in New York, David Gura is a correspondent on NPR's business desk. His stories are broadcast on NPR's newsmagazines, All Things Considered, Morning Edition and Weekend Edition, and he regularly guest hosts 1A, a co-production of NPR and WAMU.