Once again, I have to scoff (ok laugh) at these releases.
"Multi-tasking is unproductive."
Grin. Really?
Grin. Really?
How exactly to you think a working mommy or daddy gets through their caffeine-fueled, spastic day?
These studies and stories of peril are always solely business focused: the flummoxed executive checking email in an important meeting. The uber-bored employee sucked into web surfing during a 'critical' webinar. (let's face it, if something's critical, it should not be deployed by webinar. Ever. but I digress.)
These studies all seem to forget who actually invented the fine art of multi-tasking: mommies.
I guarantee you, somewhere in a forest, long, long ago, a mommy nursed a baby while gathering fire wood, swatting flies, and watching her rambunctious toddler out of the corner of her eye (to ensure he didn't chase the monkey up a tree again.) And she did not once consider if doing all of these things was unproductive. They were all required. And all required right now. So off she went.
I argue that the evolution of the working mommy (the wommy) has moved beyond multi-taking, to a new activity I like to call "hyper-tasking". It's that fun little game wommies (and waddies) play where you see if you can engage just one more appendage in a some productive task while not losing momentum with the other limbs (which are also currently employed in something "important'). Simply put, it's multi-tasking on steroids.
Example you say? Thought you'd never ask.
Shortly after my daughter was born I found myself needing to engage in a business meeting while my son was home sick. I also had a limited time to get some shelves put together before having work done on the carpets (babies and white carpet don't mix.) The result? My left hand comforted a sick and grumpy toddler. My right hand screwed the final pieces of the shelves tightly together. My left ear transmitted information about the financial negotions. My mouth (apparently) produced reasonable arguments on said negotiations. My right ear listened for wimpers from the sick toddler. The piece de resistance? All of this occured while I delicately balanced an infant between my knees so that she didn't unlatch, stop nursing and begin screaming.
Swear.
Can't check email while in a meeting? Psssht. Ameaturs.
I have not stopped to think how many body parts were engaged in meaningful tasks at that exact moment (partially because it would require naming all of them out loud in my head), but suffice to say..it's what the 'researchers' would say is waaaaay to many. Not even Olympic athletes employ that many at once.
But that's the beauty of being a wommy. What other job (or set of jobs) call on you to at all times have every physical, mental and emotional cylinder firing at once? How would I have even known what my mind, body and spirit were capable of without my job and my little humans?
So, to the 'researchers': instead of spending time researching new ways to tell us multi-tasking is BAD, spend time trying to tell me how to do it BETTER.
THEN, I would be listening.
(well, partially, at least.)
These studies and stories of peril are always solely business focused: the flummoxed executive checking email in an important meeting. The uber-bored employee sucked into web surfing during a 'critical' webinar. (let's face it, if something's critical, it should not be deployed by webinar. Ever. but I digress.)
These studies all seem to forget who actually invented the fine art of multi-tasking: mommies.
I guarantee you, somewhere in a forest, long, long ago, a mommy nursed a baby while gathering fire wood, swatting flies, and watching her rambunctious toddler out of the corner of her eye (to ensure he didn't chase the monkey up a tree again.) And she did not once consider if doing all of these things was unproductive. They were all required. And all required right now. So off she went.
I argue that the evolution of the working mommy (the wommy) has moved beyond multi-taking, to a new activity I like to call "hyper-tasking". It's that fun little game wommies (and waddies) play where you see if you can engage just one more appendage in a some productive task while not losing momentum with the other limbs (which are also currently employed in something "important'). Simply put, it's multi-tasking on steroids.
Example you say? Thought you'd never ask.
Shortly after my daughter was born I found myself needing to engage in a business meeting while my son was home sick. I also had a limited time to get some shelves put together before having work done on the carpets (babies and white carpet don't mix.) The result? My left hand comforted a sick and grumpy toddler. My right hand screwed the final pieces of the shelves tightly together. My left ear transmitted information about the financial negotions. My mouth (apparently) produced reasonable arguments on said negotiations. My right ear listened for wimpers from the sick toddler. The piece de resistance? All of this occured while I delicately balanced an infant between my knees so that she didn't unlatch, stop nursing and begin screaming.
Swear.
Can't check email while in a meeting? Psssht. Ameaturs.
I have not stopped to think how many body parts were engaged in meaningful tasks at that exact moment (partially because it would require naming all of them out loud in my head), but suffice to say..it's what the 'researchers' would say is waaaaay to many. Not even Olympic athletes employ that many at once.
But that's the beauty of being a wommy. What other job (or set of jobs) call on you to at all times have every physical, mental and emotional cylinder firing at once? How would I have even known what my mind, body and spirit were capable of without my job and my little humans?
So, to the 'researchers': instead of spending time researching new ways to tell us multi-tasking is BAD, spend time trying to tell me how to do it BETTER.
THEN, I would be listening.
(well, partially, at least.)
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