Blog 13: CATW # 5: How to Do One Thing at a Time

The authors most important ideas in "How to Do One Thing at a Time" by Nancy Jones of the women's health magazine is knowing multi-tasking is harmful, doing two things at once isn't as good as focusing on one thing so it can be good.
      Talking on the phone while driving is a dumb idea. Even if you have a blue tooth or some kind of ear piece, it is distracting. Driving and talking is a multi-task that is harmful, not only to yourself but others around you. Driving needs full attention and if you are talking, your mind is on the topic you are talking about and not where you are headed. I seen my mother do it all the time. She receives a phone call while driving and answers it using an earpiece, yes, but she ends up missing a turn or going in the wrong way. It could be anything, like getting into a car accident, so its best to just concentrate on where you are going always and not do anything else that will distract you. "A tremendous amount of evidence shows that the brain does better when its performing task in sequence rather than all at once" says Clifford Nass a professor of communication at Stanford university. Earlier I read a passage by Sherry Turkle, a professor from MIT and she says how in many of her interviews children say their parents will pick them up, but their parents would be stuck on their blackberry stuff. I can relate because my mom ignores anyone if she is on her phone. Driving and talking on the phone is not a good thing, you are ignoring whats around you.