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Multitasking 1

Multitasking 2

Multitask Quiz by Alison van Diggelen Here’s a quiz: You’re at home one evening, settling in to watch some of the taped Olympic coverage you missed last month. First the telephone rings, then you hear a tap dripping in the bathroom. A burning smell starts coming from the kitchen and your child comes in with a bloody knee …oh and someone starts hammering at your front door (probably the UPS man with that urgent package you’ve been waiting for). Which do you attend to first? Your answer will give profound insights into your life priorities. Each one of these items represents an aspect of your life (family, career, friends, home, money, ecology, etc.) and you have to choose. Choose now, quick, before the house goes up in flames…. This fun-filled scenario was described on a chain email I received from a friend in southern California. Has it reached you yet? Bet you can’t wait! It’s enough to make you admit defeat, crawl away and go lie down in a darkened room with soundproof walls. (If only!) Taken seriously or not, the quiz highlights an important truth for women today. At the start of the 21st Century, within this technology era, we mothers are faced with an intimidating array of demands on our time, on our nerves, on our energy levels. We must multitask endlessly from morning until night. Multitasking is so engrained we get a guilt complex if we’re not doing at least three things simultaneously. When we’re driving somewhere and stop at the traffic lights, our hands itch to apply sunscreen, touch up our lipstick, do some radio-cruising, file that broken nail or even scribble a few more items on our “to do” lists. We’re like action junkies, kids who just can’t sit still. Similarly, when we’re drawn to the TV for our weekly fix of “Friends”, or whatever, we can seldom just watch. We come to the sofa armed with baskets of laundry to fold, handfuls of bills to pay, or some clothes to mend and our overflowing sewing kits. Isn’t it ironic that despite all the technological advances since we were kids, we’re probably driven to multitask more than our own mothers were? We’re trying to do it all, do it well and do it fast. Technology has brought us many time saving devices like dishwashers and microwaves, but it has also brought us more choices and more distractions. When I’m working from home I must admit that email and the web are great diversions for me. It’s so easy to lose several minutes replying to personal emails, and virtually lose yourself for hours on the web. Sometimes, in my more Luddite moments, I blame the computer. Ever since Bill Gates (or should I say Steve Jobs?) allowed us to operate several functions at once, we’ve been under greater pressure to keep up. The ability to open a dozen windows and multitask to our hearts delight is too tempting. Because we CAN we do. Similarly, email keeps us hopping. Unlike one or maybe two snail mail deliveries a day, email is constantly arriving on our desks. Because it’s THERE we check it…and we re-check it every other minute of the day, just in case. As computer processors and modems get faster by the day, we may get sucked into a race we can never win. The question is; should we choose ratcheting multitasking as our panacea or should we simply try to do less and take off some of the hats we wear? I was a big fan of Donna Britt’s column which appeared in the Mercury News. She called herself “a charter member of America’s largest, exercise-free running-in-place club.” Finally taking a sabbatical from the column this summer, she admitted, “I’m weary of ascribing my breathlessness to the ‘necessities’ of modern life.” Donna described the wisdom she got from an older family member; “It’s a different world now. We had jobs. You guys have careers. You beat yourselves up for not doing everything…it takes a different toll.” Her epiphany came after her seventh missed appointment and having to cancel a lunch date with someone she longed to see. I found her candid column hit home. Like an alarm bell. Yet, we’re not all in a position to take a sabbatical or sign off from certain tasks altogether. Some people thrive on the dynamic of constant action. I think we need to set our own priorities, and go easy on ourselves. It’s important to strike a balance, use some delegation and treat ourselves to some monotasking. Though recognizing that multitasking is a necessity in our fast technology-era lifestyles, maybe it’s necessary for our well being to find time during the week to simply mono-task, one project, one focus, no distractions. Whether it’s balancing the household accounts, doing a project with the kids, taking a hike or even vegging in front of the TV. But today’s compulsive multitaskers still have one great upside to look forward to at the end of the day. There’s one monotask we don’t have to schedule and that’s those few precious hours each night, sleep perfect sleep. © Alison van Diggelen, October 2000.

Multitasking by Helen Lerry ‘Multitasking ‘is one of the buzz words of Silicon Valley. It sounds very important, but there is nothing new about ‘multitasking.’ Probably Eve did it in the Garden of Eden. In fact every Mother has always ‘multitasked.’ The scenario of stirring the soup with a baby on your hip and the ‘phone to your ear, with one foot nudging the dog out of the way and vigilant eyes watching the toddler is as familiar as Apple Pie to every mother. Mothers invented ‘multitasking,’ pity they did not patent it. We would all be rich. Gen. Xers’ indulge in ‘multitasking’ in their own inimitable style. They drive around Silicon Valley with the roof down on their BMW or their S.U.V and they talk on the cell `phone, sipping Latte at traffic lights and listening to Rock as they drive. Gen. Yers’ go one better. They can drive (sometimes its Mom’s car) and listen to Rock on built up Speakers and eat Pizza and talk on the `phone and swig Coke from the bottle. Their blonde hair flies in the breeze and their orthodontic smiles gleam in the sunlight. They are, indeed, a generation blessed with good fortune. Time takes care of most things, and in time Xers’ and Yers’ will be pleased that they learnt to’ multitask’ in their youth. For in time they will be holding tough jobs, counting stock options and raising children. They will be mowing the grass and taking out the trash just like the rest of us. No doubt on the ‘helps’ day off they will be stirring the soup. No I got that wrong, they will be piling into the S.U.V. and heading for the nearest restaurant. Life changes its patterns, but the beat goes on and it’s refreshing and the greatest fun to watch it all. I would not have missed our generations style of ‘multitasking’ for the world, but I love to watch the new style. It may be self-important and pretentious, but it carries its own gusto and excitement. It’s amusing and cute and infinitely childish. Helen Lerry is a retired teacher from England and married a widower friend who had emigrated to the States. She has two children. She has written for newspapers in England and for childrens' classes. She writes for 'The Villager' newspaper, in The Villages, San Jose, a community of 4000 retirees. Helen can be contacted at helenpat@kepnet.com

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