Staredit Network

http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000691.html


No wonder I feel dumber lately.


But you know, there's been studies about multitasking with things like cell phones while driving (which is allegedly worse than being drunk within the legal limit while driving ). When I think about it now it kinda makes sense.

Moral: It really is better to stick with one project at a time, if you mean to get it done faster and better! And 2 keep ur IQs.

ADDITION:
Speaking of feeling dumber, this thread'd probably belong better in the Lite discussion forum, now that I think about it.

I think my teacher said something about younger generations being better at multi-tasking... I don't really remember, I was talking and doing my math homework at the time...

Yeah Tux, you weren't thinking.

>>Moved

I agree. I don't allow myself to work on more than one project simultaniosly. For instance, if I have to do 3 big projects and I try to spend an equal amount of time with each of them and work on them all at once, it might take, say, 9 months to finish all 3. Whereas if I just focused on one at a time, then I would get done in 6 months. I've learned this the hard way.

Har har har.



So now you see why I wrote my earlier essay on using a team process for maps is good for eliminating multitasking, right? Not to say there isn't multitasking involved in team projects, but you can make that part a specific role in and of itself, leaving everyone else to focus on what they need to focus on to get things done.

Dont want to suffer the negative effects of multi tasking but still multi task? Get in the zone. The place where your mind just reacts and you do not consiously think to make it do what needs to be done. I do this alot with big school projects, starcraft, and especially DOTA. In DOTA the zone is nessacary for survival. Music and or drugs can either increase or induce the zone, i think the latter does more harm then good. So lets get zoned and game.

-Ex

No wonder I never finish my 30+ maps! I'm always switching between them. Now I get why they're never completed. I thought it was due to laziness but no, I'm graduly bcomng sstoopider lolz naow it al mayke sents

I know what you mean by that, since I get my sparks of inspiration during those moments... though they're not as common as I'd like. I'm sure it has a more scientific term or some kind of actual research behind it... somewhere. I wonder if there's some (legal) way to induce it, if it is indeed anything induceable or if it just occurs whenever.

It occurs for me in 2 situations:
Writing. When i write my eyes are locked on to my screen, my spelling errors are so few when this happens it amazes me. It appears the zone holds all my inspiration inside.

Music + Gaming. Anytime im playing any game on my comp ill have iTunes shuffling my favorite playlist. If the game and music synch in some wierd flow, and it gets to my mind, i excell at whatever game it is im playing.

For those of you DOTA smart: The zone got me a level 25 in under 45mins with a butterfly, 2 skadis, treads, mekansm, and HoT. My kill-death ratio was 17-2.

-Ex

I can walk and talk at the same time and maintain pretty good form =S I love how this site doesn't say how it gathered it's statistics, and barely references anything. No wait, I hate it.

You can multi-task anything as long as there is only one part that demands active attention of your brain (as apposed to passive). Only a fool thinks he can be actively thinking about two things at once (the example with the e-mail and the phone communication). However, someone who is efficient will be able to talk to their friend without stopping and resting on a bench.

You just need to know your limits when you multitask.


I think that's situation and individual dependant. As long as you're organised and keep good notes, you don't have to code everything in one session. Sometimes when you're stuck somewhere, it's a lot better to take a break and start working on something else, waiting for a solution to come to you, than to just keep staring at the project not getting anything done because of one 'writer's block'.

It hasn't affected my intelligence... If you go and read my posts over the year I've gotten smrter.

Uh huh.

*Arrests Tux for being a spelling Nazi

-Ex

Ironic, I randomly read something about this on a newsticker at the bottom of the screen: "Multitaskers scored lower on IQ tests than post smokers", assuming multitaskers would be someone who's doing something else while talking the test such as talking on the phone or something.

My solution for map making multitasking is, if you get an idea, just write it down with as much detail as you can at the moment to get it out of your system. Save that text somewhere, perhaps create a log, and work on it AFTER you finish your current project.


Also, am I the only one who thinks it's funny that tux used 'u', but capitalised it?

U are. It's shorthand. People with limited space, or are slow typers use it all the time.

Yeah, that's what I do too. It's the closest you can get to "delegating" yourself for a given task or task set instead of managing multiple different ones; both mentally and physically.

That explains why I do bad on my homework. I think about SC while I do it.

I was hoping you'd catch that, it was purposeful.

I don't think it makes you "stupider" I think you will just have worse quallity or perfection for both things you are doing, because you aren't giving 1 your undividied attention.

Then it fails for me how schools are handing out more than one project at a time. Aren't the schools there to learn us?

Schools are supposed to get us to pass tests. *kicks schools* Stupid school.

No, you're there to learn in school. They can't force you learn, you have to apply yourself and want to learn. Kids these days. :/

Whaddya mean kids these days?! If the schools wasn't there to learn us, then the schools wouldn't exist today. They don't hire teachers for us to choose to learn or not, we're there to learn mate.

You're there to learn at school. The schools are not there to "learn you" (I've never even heard it phrased that way, perhaps we have a translation error ).

multi tasking doesn't lower your iq it just makes you split your actions so you doing to things unefficently and unfocused.

Thus you are not using your brain efficently either.

Multitasking can certainly slow down the speed at which you complete tasks, but won't stimulating neural activity increase IQ? I actually received an interesting talk by one of my teachers the other day about a lecture he had been given at a conference. Apparently, if students are taught well, the ways in which they are taught open up new neural pathways (read: parts of the brain), ultimately increasing our ability to think. I remember the old propaganda concerning hyper-threading (and how much better it made processors). Well anyway, I think it works something like that. Our brain only has one "processing core," which is something along the lines of our consciousness. We can't consciously focus on doing several actions at once that require our attention. However, we do many things unconsciously. We breathe, our heart regulates blood flow, blinking hydrates the eyes, etc. Now think about breathing. It was an unconscious action before, but now you're thinking about - the intake of air, the rising of the chest, the exhalation. Doesn't focusing on that make it harder to focus on typing? I know it did for me.

I guess that didn't really address the problem presented though except to say that I disagree with the theory that multitasking somehow makes a person less intelligent. I can definitely appreciate the point that it takes time to switch from one task to another, though I believe that amount of time can be severely reduced if a person takes precautionary steps, such as making a rhythm of multitasking (hour 1: do action A, hour 2: do action B, etc. etc.), outlining the steps ahead of time as to what needs to be done, etc. Patterns generally make actions easier to master.

However, now that I think about it, multitasking several actions in a given day can increase productivity by keeping the person better motivated and better focused. It's hard for many people, myself included, to focus on one project for extended periods of time. It's far easier to work at it in small chunks, and the quality is usually preferable that way.

Lastly, I think our definitions of multitasking are a bit different. I believe you offered yours as working on several projects in an extended period of time, and perhaps in the same day even, but never both at once. My definition would lie more along the lines of doing two things at once, such as scratching my chin while I move the mouse with my other hand instead of working on my history homework for fifteen minutes then my calculus homework for three hours.