Talking on the phone and driving. | Listening to a podcast and doing math problems. |
Texting while talking to someone. | Checking emails in a meeting. |
Working on three essays at the same time. | Posting to social media while studying. |
Marking papers while teaching a class. | Coding for work and caring for your children. |
Designing graphics at work and taking care of your dog. | Monitoring multiple security cameras at the same time. |
Working on a side hustle at while at work. |
| Overview: Multitasking | ||
Type | ||
Definition | The practice of focusing on more than one thing at a time. | |
Origins | The term originates with computer multitasking, a technique of sharing computing resources amongst many programs so that programs are responsive to users and events. Computer multitasking emerged in the 1960s and the term was quickly adopted to describe similar human abilities. | |
Related Definitions | FlowA state of mental concentration that is associated with productivity and reduced human error. | Related Concepts |
