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Seth_Gecko t1_iy1ce0q wrote

Reply to comment by nvcNeo in [Image] "8 ways to constantly improve" by Butterflies_Books

I don't buy that one bit. Consciously avoiding multitasking isn't going to teach you to focus. Being good at multi-tasking is all about being able to focus while doing multiple things.

Why wouldn't I want to fill otherwise mentally unstimulating, unbenficial hours with audio books or podcasts or whatever? Heck, I now read like 3 times as many books as I did before I started using audible during housework and whatnot. And for someone like me, whose worst mental torture is thinking about my ever-expanding backlog and the fact that there just isn't enough time in my measly human lifespan to read all the books I want to read, that's a true godsend!

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nvcNeo t1_iy1jti9 wrote

I don't recall exactly what his reasoning was, the talk was a few years ago, but it was something along the lines of true multitasking not actually existing. He said it was a myth, and what was really happening was that our brains were constantly switching our focus between these "micro"-tasks back and forth creating the illusion of multitasking. Multitasking as we know it is hurting our working memory, which in turn is what negatively affects our ability to focus among other things. If you search for it, there has actually been quite a lot of research on the topic, as well as the effects.

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Seth_Gecko t1_iy1k2hz wrote

I don't buy it. No one is going to convince me that multi-tasking and trying to make the most out of my time is a bad thing.

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nvcNeo t1_iy1knc9 wrote

You do you, bud. I'm not trying to convince you, I just thought the subject was interesting.

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Seth_Gecko t1_iy1zwe7 wrote

I'm aware. I'm just participating in the conversation, same as you. Not sure why that's a bad thing but okay 🤷‍♂️

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Muscalp t1_iy2p6ul wrote

There is a point to be made about focussing on a single thing. That‘s essentially what meditation is. Also I think there‘s a big difference between multitasking while doing senseless stuff like laundry, or „multitasking“ by looking at your phone while watching a movie.

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Seth_Gecko t1_iy6lgrd wrote

I wouldn't consider looking at your phone while watching a movie "multi-tasking." Simply doing one thing when you're "supposed" to be doing something else isn't multi-tasking. Multi-tasking is doing and paying attention to muliple things at once. For example: I work at a marijuana dispensary, and a lot of our downtime is spent rolling joints. I always listen to an audio book or podcast while I'm rolling, and I can easily focus on both tasks. No one is going to convince me that that isn't more productive use of my time.

I have a severely limited time on this earth: not nearly enough to consume and learn everything I want to. 🤷‍♂️

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Muscalp t1_iy6oh7o wrote

That‘s more or less my point, yeah

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DankLoaf t1_iy2o7r6 wrote

I read a book recently called "Deep Work" that gave very similar advice to what OP stated. Basically your ability to focus solely on a single task is a neural skill that you need to learn and build over time, and by constantly stimulating your mind with some form of entertainment you're degrading that ability. There are other similar schools of thought (like "flow state" which is probably a bit more popular) that will advocate for the same thing

The counterpoint to this is that for some, the need to deeply concentrate on a single task isn't relevant. This usually applies to managers or executives. To them the ability to rapidly task switch is much more valuable than the ability to deeply concentrate

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