Saving Lives By Unitasking

I feel deluged by reports of the risks of multitasking. I hear them on the radio while trying to sleep. Television news describes accidents caused by texting while I am preparing dinner. I read about tragedies in the newspaper while music plays in the background. Coworkers recount drivers swerving while putting on make-up as I prepare for court.

As a cyclist I am keenly aware of multitaskers and strive to be alert enough for both me and the drivers who are around me. I also pay close attention to the other cyclists on the rode because I've had some near misses with them as well. I'll admit that on occasion it has been my distraction that has created the near miss.

Scientists perform extensive research to determine whether there are negative effects on performance when we work on more than one task at a time. Seriously, do we need research to demonstrate that our performance is not nearly as good when we are trying to focus on two or more things at once? We all know that multitasking results in worse performance and we complain about it in our daily lives.

A couple stands in a checkout line at a grocery store. One adult reads aloud the shopping list to make sure they have everything on the list. The other adult nods in agreement and confirms with an affirmative yes to each ingredient named. Later, while standing at the kitchen counter preparing the meal the first adult says,

"Where is the tahini?"
"What?" comes the reply.
"The tahini."
"I heard you the first time."
"Did we leave the tahini at the store?"

They pull out the receipt and tahini doesn't appear. They never got the tahini. Suddenly it becomes clear and the multitasking gap is revealed; well at least it's obvious to the one who was not multitasking. She was dutifully reading the list while the other was trying to listen but unable to block the numerous sensory inputs in the checkout line. Even our grocery stores bombard us with distractions, last minute-purchases, magazines and the like.

Checkout lines seldom present life and death risks and most of the time when we multitask very little is on the line. Usually it is really just tahini. And there lies the problem. Every time we multitask and nothing goes wrong we attribute our success and well being to our ability to effectively do multiple things at once. We deceive ourselves into believing what we know is untrue. We think that we can multitask effectively. Yet, even the most basic of tasks reveals that multitasking is only effective as long as none of the tasks we are doing is actually important.

We take the confidence developed in nonthreatening situations and apply it behind the wheels of our cars and other important settings.  As a friend who doesn't have a steel frame to protect me while riding, I thank you in advance for unitasking while driving.

Together we'll avoid a news report.