Christine Rosen, the senior editor of The New Atlantis and a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center has written one of the best articles on "The Myth of Multi-tasking" that I have read in some time. This article includes references to the latest neuroscience research, as well as thought provoking speculation on what the consequences of out-of-control multi-tasking might be for our society.

I recommend that you take that cell phone thingie out of your ear, shut down the email program, (you can launch it again later) and close the door to your office for a few minutes, as you concentrate your attention on simply reading the article. No skimming. Take it as a challenge to read it all the way through.

Once you've done that... take a few minutes to let the full message sink in. Think through how it applies to your own circumstances, and how you behave when you are stressed out and handling too many things at once.

Do we really want that for our lives, or are there times when it is being foisted off on us?

I believe that many times, "multi-tasking" and sensory overload is offered as a kind of mental baby sitting service. As if, we can't be trusted to be alone with our own thoughts for too long.

For instance, does the stimulation of having the TV going in the background in the waiting room at the dentist office or in line at the grocery story really add anything to your productivity and enjoyment of life... or is it just jumping around in the background?

Are we really THAT bored with own own thoughts, or just not given any time to explore what they are?

Technology is often blamed for creating the problem, offering a convenient scapegoat. While it is tempting to say that a technological society demands rampant multi-tasking behavior, and that cranky and stressed out is the new normal, I personally don't believe that it must be so.

I was pleased that Christine Rosen left open the door to the development of new tools and products like our Life Balance software that use technology to help address the issues of how to respond to the flood of requests, information, and life situations that place such heavy demands on everyone's time and energy.

I can't help but think that I might be "The Time Nanny" with our Life Balance software, that she mentions in the second to the last paragraph, too.

After all, the whole idea of being able to take control of your time these days is shocking and startling. I find that when I tell people about what I do, people look at me with the same surprised expression as when Nanny McPhee says, as she turns up, seemingly out of nowhere, "I did knock!"

Copyright @ 2008, Catherine E. White, permission is granted for this article to be redistributed and shared with others in its entirety as long as links and attribution are maintained.
Catherine E. White is president of Llamagraphics, Inc. developer of the Life Balance software. Life Balance provides a structure for your goals, projects and tasks that is priority driven, so you can to make better decisions about how to use your discretionary time. To learn more about the software, please visit http://www.llamagraphics.com/