Why We Make Mistakes: Post #6--Walking and Chewing Gum

We Can Walk and Chew Gum—but Not Much Else: Multitasking doesn’t work. Most of us talk about multitasking as if it were a badge of honor. Fact is, we don’t do it well. We get so distracted that most of us hardly spend minutes on task before getting interrupted. In effect, we’re all ADHD. According to the author: “Not even a computer multitasks; it switches back and forth between tasks several thousand times a second, thus giving the illusion that everything is happening simultaneously.” In addition, when we switch from one task to another, we forget about 40% of what we were doing. And it takes 15 minutes to get back in the groove. So when it comes to using cell phones while driving—forget about it.