Doing several things at once is called multitasking. From an ergonomics viewpoint, there is little to recommend it: many studies show the additional tasks represent distractions that impair efficiency in the workplace, while introducing safety risks. At the same time, the ability to multitask is widely seen as an asset, and is often listed as a job requirement. Multitasking is often in the news, weighing in on one side or the other of the debate.

A recent article in The Tribune-Review in North Carolina noted that a characteristic of the Millennial Generation – the 81 million people born between 1982 and 2002 – is the ability to multitask. Using iPods, Blackberries and laptops simultaneously is nothing to them, as the new breed is accustomed to moving at a fast pace. Dr. Terri Manning, the Director of the Center for Applied Research at Piedmont Community College in North Carolina, has researched the issue and tours the country helping employers make the most of this multitasking generation. "The millennials will pose new challenges and great opportunities for the work force," she told the newspaper. "Businesses that plan for and embrace them will reap great rewards."

The new United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, is also a proponent. He is lobbying governments to support the reforms he has introduced to the world body, one of which involves multitasking. A recent article published by the international organization Radio Free Europe says Ban believes that under existing guidelines, the UN should be able each year to initiate one new multitasking mission for the 100,000 peacekeepers in active service and also to maintain three large peacekeeping operations simultaneously in different parts of the world.

The Governor of Utah, Jon Huntsman, sees multitasking as a menace on the roads. The Salt Lake Tribunereported recently that he has signed a bill into law that creates a careless-driving provision. It targets people multitasking at the wheel, and is mainly directed at drivers who send and receive phone calls and text messages while en route.

The Utah lawmakers are not alone in targeting multitasking drivers. The Associated Press reports that two New Jersey lawmakers, Assemblymen Paul Moriarty and David Mayer, are sponsoring legislation that would fine people who drive while sending and receiving text messages. The two say it is dangerous to take your eyes off the road. Arizona, Connecticut and Washington also are considering ways to block this latest electronic distraction.

The New York Times (NYT) recently reviewed several studies that would support the lawmakers’ arguments that multitasking at the wheel is a bad idea, but also suggest it isn’t a sound idea in any situation. It notes that recent research by neuroscientists, psychologists and management professors provides evidence of the limits of doing more than one thing at the same time.

“Multitasking is going to slow you down, increasing the chances of mistakes,” said David E. Meyer, a cognitive scientist and director of the Brain, Cognition and Action Laboratory at the University of Michigan. He explained in the NYT article that “disruptions and interruptions are a bad deal from the standpoint of our ability to process information.”

René Marois, a neuroscientist and director of the Human Information Processing Laboratory at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee and three researcher colleagues concluded in a recent article in the medical publication Neuron that a core limitation of the human brain is an inability to concentrate on two things at once. They used magnetic resonance imaging to pinpoint the bottleneck in the brain and to measure how much efficiency is lost when trying to handle two tasks at once.

The researchers said that they did not see a delay if the participants were given the tasks one at a time. But the researchers found that response to the second task was delayed by up to a second when the study participants were given the two tasks at about the same time. They point out that a one-second delay in response time while driving at 60 miles an hour could be fatal.

If there is anything that can be concluded from the diverse opinion about multitasking, it that it is here to stay. The consensus among the experts interviewed for the NYT article is that the answer lies in managing the technology, instead of merely yielding to its incessant tug.

Sources: Tribune-Review; REF/RL; Salt Lake Tribune; Associated Press; New York Times