Betty Gilgoff (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} bgilgoff) wrote,@ 2007-11-23 09:19:00 |
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Multi-tasking vs Flow
With reference to
I've been thinking a lot lately about how overwhelming the amount of information on the internet is. There is so much I want to see, do and try out. How do I keep up with it all? This video raises some great points but the one I'm most curious about is the idea that because students are doing 26.5 hours a day worth of "stuff" therefore they have to be multi-tasking. This is an interesting phenomenon but I wonder if it is really true. Do we have to do all of these things: read web pages and facebook accounts, stay on our cell phones constantly connected to everyone, watch tv, read email, listen to music, study to cram for exams, write meaningless papers? Do we have to do them all particularly if the cost of doing them is that we are constantly strapped for time. And, possibly that we maybe don't do any of them nearly as well.
I've always had a negative reaction to the concept of "multi-tasking" partly because it often seems to be an excuse for people to not attend to what is going on around them. "Oh, I'm multi-tasking" has become an acceptable explanation for someone sitting at a meeting answering their email instead of fully participating in a discussion, or for a student checking up on facebook happenings during a lecture. Is this multi-tasking, or is it simply (potentially rude) lack of engagement. If we look at Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's Flow Theory, I'd suggest that ideally we're striving in anything we do to do it completely. We want to learn to attend to whatever we involve ourselves in with as much of our being as we can. The more we are 100% engaged, the closer we are to being "in flow", an idealized state of true understanding, engagement and expertise. Where does "multi-tasking" fit with this and how does the bombardment of information, toys, networks, and social media help or hinder moving towards this ideal? How does web2.0 and the idea of a mobile world help or hinder real engagement and real learning. With all this that is coming at us are we becoming more of surface learners and surface thinkers only? Are we really taking the time to stop and learn and explore things, tools, ideas and concepts in depth? How might this networked world be distracting us?
With reference to
I've been thinking a lot lately about how overwhelming the amount of information on the internet is. There is so much I want to see, do and try out. How do I keep up with it all? This video raises some great points but the one I'm most curious about is the idea that because students are doing 26.5 hours a day worth of "stuff" therefore they have to be multi-tasking. This is an interesting phenomenon but I wonder if it is really true. Do we have to do all of these things: read web pages and facebook accounts, stay on our cell phones constantly connected to everyone, watch tv, read email, listen to music, study to cram for exams, write meaningless papers? Do we have to do them all particularly if the cost of doing them is that we are constantly strapped for time. And, possibly that we maybe don't do any of them nearly as well.
I've always had a negative reaction to the concept of "multi-tasking" partly because it often seems to be an excuse for people to not attend to what is going on around them. "Oh, I'm multi-tasking" has become an acceptable explanation for someone sitting at a meeting answering their email instead of fully participating in a discussion, or for a student checking up on facebook happenings during a lecture. Is this multi-tasking, or is it simply (potentially rude) lack of engagement. If we look at Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's Flow Theory, I'd suggest that ideally we're striving in anything we do to do it completely. We want to learn to attend to whatever we involve ourselves in with as much of our being as we can. The more we are 100% engaged, the closer we are to being "in flow", an idealized state of true understanding, engagement and expertise. Where does "multi-tasking" fit with this and how does the bombardment of information, toys, networks, and social media help or hinder moving towards this ideal? How does web2.0 and the idea of a mobile world help or hinder real engagement and real learning. With all this that is coming at us are we becoming more of surface learners and surface thinkers only? Are we really taking the time to stop and learn and explore things, tools, ideas and concepts in depth? How might this networked world be distracting us?
