Multitasking

The term "multitasking" is ambiguous. We can consider different forms of multitasking along two dimensions: how multi and how tasking. As to how multi the multitasking is, I do not mean how many tasks, but how close together the tasks are in time. Thus, the basic three options are: simultaneous, rapidly alternating, and slowly alternating. The options for tasking have to do with how much of a task the various tasks are, by which I mean how much they require attention. Again, there are roughly three options: no attention, second-nature attention, and full attention.

Simultaneous no attention/other multitasking occurs all the time. Your heart beating is a case of a no attention "task." Simultaneous second-nature/second-nature or second-nature/full attention multitasking, on the other hand, never fully occurs, but likely approximates slow cycling multi-tasking because of the low attention required of the second-nature tasks. When we think we are simultaneous full/full multitasking, we are actually rapid cycling multitasking.

Rapid cycle multitasking involves shifting one's attention between tasks at a fast pace. It is what we generally mean when we colloquially refer to something as multitasking. because rapid cycle multitasking precludes keeping one's attention on a single task for much time at all, it thereby encourages short attention spans, and precludes following an argument of much depth, since one is likely to miss bits in-between. Because one will tend to miss things in both tasks while multitasking, and because it precludes careful argumentation and giving someone else careful consideration and giving careful thought to one's own words--since one is spending, say, half as much time considering them--rapid cycle multitasking is corrosive to community and promotes sound-bite discourse.

Slow cycle multitasking also has some costs to it, since one still has to refocus on what one was doing, but, provided that slow means slow (that is, probably over an hour between shifts) it is far less corrosive to one's ability to pay attention when one needs to, and thus is more civically responsible. This is, presumably, what employers mean by "multitasking" when they list it as a desired skill, although my proposed time between shifts is unlikely to be the actual time in such environments. In any case, since rapid cycle multitasking is what we mean by the term colloquially, the use of the term "multitasking" to refer to a valued skill promotes the value of rapid cycle multitasking and is thereby civically irresponsible.