Before Klinkburg Edits

Although technology is making it easier for young people to ‘multitask’, it isn’t as helpful as they might think. Technology makes it seem as though it’s possible to get things done faster by doing two things at once. Young people make the assumption they are able to text and drive or scroll through their social media accounts while studying for an exam. According to David Meyer, an expert on multitasking mentioned in Sam Anderson’s article, In Defense of Distraction, “ … multitasking, at least as our culture has come to know and love and institutionalize it, is a myth,” (Anderson, 4). By attempting to do two tasks at once the brain is going back and forth between the two tasks rapidly, while not completely retaining or comprehending the information of either task. This means that it actually takes more time to fully understand something when struggling to do two things at once rather than just doing them one at a time. Practicing this can make the brain more easily distracted because it will become used to trying to switch back and forth between two tasks. Even when trying to study for an exam students are easily distracted by people walking by or their phones going off. So, even when young people are attempting to focus on one thing at a time, their brains are still trying to multitask.

After Klinkburg Edits

Technology is making it easier for young people to ‘multitask’. Multitasking isn’t as helpful as people might think. Technology makes it seem possible to do things faster by doing two things at once. Young people assume they can successfully text and drive or scroll through social media while studying. David Meyer, in Sam Anderson’s article, In Defense of Distraction, says “ … multitasking, … is a myth,” (Anderson, 4).  Multitasking means the brain is going back and forth between two tasks rapidly. The brain doesn’t retain or comprehend the information of either task.  It takes more time to understand two things at once, rather than one at a time. Practicing this makes the brain more distracted because it becomes used to switching back and forth between tasks. Students trying to focus on studying are distracted by people walking by or their phones going off. When young people attempt to focus on one thing, their brains still try to multitask.