BlogFile: Multitasking goes mainstream
Marketing and PR consultant Francine Hardaway makes our latest edition of NewsWatch for a blog entry that is just too true: a short-and-sweet commentary on our multi-tasking culture. Shouldn’t all great articles start with the line, “Bill Clinton talked on the phone while receiving his famous blowjob from Monica Lewinsky…”?
Of course, Hardaway is 100% right. Today’s NOW culture is about instantaneous information, and more recent communications technologies have been designed for just that purpose.
Look no further than:
- Mobile phones - Take your conversation anywhere, even the bathroom, as Hardaway points out.
- Instant Messaging - Juggle multiple “important” chats AND work
- Windows - Usually no less than three open windows (browser, email, MS Office application) on a given workday
- …and even tabbed browsing (I have four tabs open right now)
We eat dinner with the TV on, talk on the phone while driving, check our personal email during work meetings… the list goes on. And moreover, while multi-tasks such as these were once considered exceptions rather than rules (remember how cool you felt the first time you used your mobile phone in public?), now it is standard fare for children, adults and seniors alike. Everyone does it, and those who don’t are just “wasting time” in our eyes.
Further proof that multi-tasking is now a natural state of mind? In August I found out the details of my sister-in-law’s new baby boy when she sent us a text message from her hospital room… ten minutes after giving birth.
You can’t even set aside dedicated time for childbirth anymore.
