Sarah Sparks Article Summary (Multitasking)

According to Sarah Sparks, self-control is the biggest factor in multitasking. The reporter at Education Week continued in her report, “Studies on Multitasking Highlight Value of Self-Control,” that Larry D. Rosen discovered that thirteen to eighteen year olds were exposed to over six types of media on average at a single moment. Rosen, author of iDisorder: Understanding Our Obsession With Technology and Overcoming Its Hold on Us, also found that this has caused people to pay “continuous partial attention.” This division of brain power forces the brain to spend more time trying to multitask then doing the tasks separately would use. One of the department chairmen at John Hopkins University, Steven G. Yantis, explained that some simple tasks may be done at the same time without noticeable consequence. When the tasks require choices, however, there is what Yantis referred to as a “bottleneck,” or a brief slowdown or halt of the decision making process. Though this only lasts fractions of seconds, numerous factors could cause this to increase. Some people brag that they are constantly multitasking, but a recent study performed by Stanford University found that people who rarely devoted their time to multiple tasks at once actually did better with reaction times then those who did otherwise. Those who have ADHD have an even harder time switching between tasks, says Dr. Denckla, professor at John Hopkins and director at the Kennedy Krieger Institute. Sarah Sparks also suggested that texting is “the new marshmallow test.” “Marshmallow Test” refers to a Stanford University research project in which preschoolers were given marshmallows and were promised another if they waited to eat them for fifteen minutes. Over two-thirds could not wait and ate the marshmallow before time. A grown up marshmallow test was given by Rosen to college level students. They were told to watch a video with content they would be quizzed on later. During the video some of the students were texted with questions that had nothing to do with the content video. The students who were texted dropped a full letter grade on the test they were given due to missing out on information while texting. The article was concluded with a realization that, while people would do best in an environment with no multitasking, this environment is near impossible to find. Cathy Davidson, author of Now You See It: How the Brain Science of Attention Will Transform the Way We Live, Work, and Learn, claimed that the world is “connected” at all times. She also suggested that people need to create good multitasking skills as the world is moving to a more multitasking environment (Sparks).

Works Cited

Sparks, Sarah. “Studies on Multitasking Highlight Value of Self-Control.” Education Week. 15 May 2012. 20 March 2015. <http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2012/05/16/31multitasking_ep.h31.html?tkn=PTWFGpBwR5o7bKrnCvQZswL8Vr+lUoJB+62c&cmp=clp-edweek>.

Sarah Sparks Article