I heard about multitasking a long time ago, in the context of computing. But then more and more people talk about how they multitasking. Well, I'm surely not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I knew that people who claimed they could multitask had no idea what they were talking about.
There is a wonderful article in the Winter 2010 issue of Tricycle, a Buddhist magazine, about the danger of multitasking. In a article called Busy Signal, by Andrew Olendzki, he approaches the topic from a Buddhist perspective. Here are some excerpt:
When the Buddha says, "I know of now single thing ore conducive to great harm than an unrestrained mind,"When the mind tries to do several things at once, it does not do any of them every well.
This is an empirical act proven by numerous experiments, and it is easy to test out for yourself: try texting a message while catching the latest baseball scorese on the radio and discussing some recent relationship difficulty with your partner.
Meanwhile, peace is accessible . This, too, is an empirically demonstrable fact: try turning off the radio, the phone, the computer, and the TV; sit comfortable, in a quiet place, relaxing the body and mind; mindfully breathe in, mindfully breathe out, and abandon -- just for now -- any thought or response the tends to disperse and divide your awareness.
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