For a digital immigrant, the concept of having to act in a multitude of channels simultaneously is confusing at best. I’m used to being able to concentrate on one task at a time, I have been trained to shut out the sounds and impressions from the surrounding environment while I concentrate on one thing. Several seminars and articles about “the efficient worker”, have also been focusing on the need to remove all the disturbances that take our focus away. E-mail popups and chats have been labeled as main “time thieves”.
But now this ability to concentrate on one thing is being considered old fashion. Instead of avoiding e-mail popups and chats, I’ve installed a tweet deck to continously show me updates on my most important feeds. I’m expected to maintain an e-mail dialogue at almost all times, no matter where I am or what I’m supposed to be doing. I’m crashing into the world of multitasking.
One frustration about multitasking is the fact that I never get to do anything with full focus, and hence I feel that the quality of my doing is not to the standards I like it to be. I am handling my inputs and outputs too fast for comfort. Those who have been doing this for some time, say that they gradually lose the ability to focus on a single task for a longer period of time. Even a simple thing as reading a book becomes difficult for the experienced mutitasker. Am I willing to go that way? – or can I avoid it? Will my brain too suffer permanent damage and lose the ability to focus?
I find this prospect a little scary. At the same time, I accept the fact that to be able to get my job done, to reach out to the amount of people I need to be in touch with every day, to be able to answer questions quickly, I have to handle multiple input channels and I have to be able to hold several processes at the same time. My brain is being stretched, and sometimes I feel the red “overload lamp” blink inside my head. But maybe – if I let go of the desire for deep and concentrated focus on every task and instead accept the more shallow handling of many tasks, I can be able to stop the overload and rather go with the flow. I’m not sure it’s the best way – but it’s a strategy for survival, and in some years most people will be just as shallow as me, doing their multitasking.
I hope I’l be able to enjoy a good novel, though. Even if it’s more than ten pages long.
I recommend this book – lots of interesting thoughts…
Marianne Selle 
Gratulere med ny fantastisk bra blogg!
Gratulere med ny fantastisk blogg!
Great thoughts about a interesting topic
Flott blogg
Interesting blog! In a way, you state that your number nr. 1. Job is outsourced to the work of performing multitasking. Multitasking has become your job, because you have to be constantly fed by what is happening around. Have you considered what has become the relevant form the less relevant information, relevant to performing your job? It seems that you have already figured out a solution!
I’m not sure I’ve figured it out, but I’m trying to avoid being overloaded. The irrelevant information is easy to avoid. The problem is the amount of relevant information. There is so much I should have known or taken into consideration which I just don’t have enough time to look into. My solution is to scan information, emails, tweets, blogs, news – being hestitant to get involved in every discussion (a lot of them do fine without me), then I make quick desicions regarding the situations I need to handle. I may sometimes be too quick, but most desicions can be remade – waiting is anyway a waste of time :-).