Multitasking and Multiple Options—What have we gained or lost when all our interactions are in real time?

WEEK 5--Reclaiming Conversation

"When we think we are multitasking, our brains are actually moving quickly from one thing to the next, and our performance degrades for each new task we add to the mix. Multitasking gives us a neurochemical high so we think we are doing better and better when actually we are doing worse and worse. We’ve seen that not only do multitaskers have trouble deciding how to organize their time, but over time, they “forget” how to read human emotions. 

Students—for example, my students—think that texting during class does not interrupt their understanding of class conversation, but they are wrong. The myth of multitasking is just that: a myth.

The multitasking life puts us into a state similar to vigilance, one of continual alert. In that condition, we can follow only the most rudimentary arguments. So multitasking encourages brevity and simplicity, even when more is called for. And the harm that multitasking does is contagious.

When you have your phone, maybe it’s not just the people in front of you who lose priority. Does the world in front of you lose priority? Does the place you are in lose priority? Your phone reminds you, all the time, that you could be in so many different places.

That is what Kati and her friends are living. Wherever she and her friends are, they strategize about where they could be. With so much choice, says Kati, it becomes harder to choose, because “you’re afraid you won’t make the right choice.” And nothing seems like the right choice.

Jasper warns his friends about the downside of infinite choice: They are all paying less attention to where they are and the people they are with. “People forget . . . that sitting here right now might be the best thing that you can get. That might be the best you have.” 

Jasper’s comment is followed by a long silence in the group of young men. Finally, Oliver breaks the silence: “What if you’re always looking for something better and then you die? You’ve searched all the way until you’re dead. And you’ve never said, ‘Maybe I’ve found it.’”
​(From Reclaiming Conversation, Sherry Turkle)

• What do you think?
• How does the digital world create FOMO?
• What are the dangers/benefits of that? (“Multitasking encourages brevity and simplicity, even when more is called for.” “Does the place you are in lose priority?”)
• How would you answer Oliver’s question?

Psalm 19.1-4 
Heaven is declaring God’s glory;
the sky is proclaiming his handiwork.
One day gushes the news to the next,
and one night informs another what needs to be known.
Of course, there’s no speech, no words--
their voices can’t be heard--
but their sound extends throughout the world;
their words reach the ends of the earth.

Ecclesiastes 3.11 
God has made everything fitting in its time, but has also placed eternity in human hearts, without enabling them to discover what God has done from beginning to end.

Romans 1.19-23 
What is known about God should be plain to people because God made it plain to them. Ever since the creation of the world, God’s invisible qualities—God’s eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, because they are understood through the things God has made. So humans are without excuse. Although they knew God, they didn’t honor or thank God as God. Instead, their reasoning became pointless, and their foolish hearts were darkened. While they were claiming to be wise, they made fools of themselves. They exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images that look like mortal humans: birds, animals, and reptiles.
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• How do you think these scriptures relate to the topic?
• What happens if we pay attention to what’s in front of us?

• What have we gained or lost when all our interactions are in real time?
• What can we do to pay attention and help others do so?