I don’t remember when I started multi-tasking, but I would say that it started when it became unacceptable to not type up our homework for school sometime back in the early-to-mid 90’s, just as I discovered the fun of playing games when homework gets boring. Between typing up essays and researching schoolwork on Microsoft Encarta, I would spend hours using my favorite software in the world, Microsoft Publisher, where I would create and print greeting cards, banners, clipart, business cards, and all other types of heavily ink consuming activities. I never thought about it until now, but perhaps that was a huge part of why I fell in love with design.

Several years later, Riyadh was finally online. On the new brand new platform of the World Wide Web, my multi-tasking abilities were taken to a whole new level as I learned that the easiest way to do homework was as a joint project over MSN with my friends, that the easiest way to make plans was over email, and that it really could be more fun meeting people online than offline. I would watch television and movies on the TV across the room while surfing the web, eat and drink while listening to music saved on the computer, and chat with friends while writing essays for school.

Only a teenager, the habit to do more than one thing at a time became a necessary requirement for concentration. At school, and to the sheer annoyance of my teachers who thought that they deserve my undivided attention in class, I wouldn’t be able to concentrate unless I’m doodling, drawing, or making bracelets. Outside of school, I would have a book with me at all times, and I developed the ability to read while standing, sitting, and even eating. I was always doing several things at the same time.

In 2003, my life took the severe digital turn when I went into design and blogging. As a design student, I had to spend prolonged hours working on the various softwares. As a blogger and an internet addict, I was (and still am) online a whole lot of the time, using the internet as a substitute to a lot of things that I might not need it for, like news, communication, time-keeping, photo storage, etc.

So, at any given minute while working on a computer, there’s a 96% chance that I am surfing at least 7 open tabs on Firefox, a 70% chance that I am surfing at least 20 open tabs on Firefox, a 91.5% chance that I have a design software open, a 67% that I am organizing my folders, a 99% chance that I have my favorite folder open to pull out and stare at every now and then, a 10% chance that I am listening to music, an 85% chance that I am talking to someone, a 55% chance that I am on MS Word writng something for the blog, a 66% that I am doing research, and a 98% chance that I am also doing something else that I am doing something less general and recurrent.

Running in parallel to the “at any given minute” scenario above, while I am doing most of the things above, there’s an 80% chance that I am passively listening to TV while sitting outside with the family, a 75% chance that I am eating or drinking, a 5% chance that I am on the phone, a 7% chance that I am writing in my notebook, a 90% chance that I am having a conversation with my family, and a 99.6% chance that I am also doing something less general and recurrent.

I think this “3ajga” that I put myself in 85% of the time is the reason that I cannot watch a movie, that I get exasperated when I have to wait, and that my attention span is no longer than 5 seconds. It is the reason that I skim and scan rather than read thoroughly, it is the reason I almost never complete paperwork, and it is the reason behind my messiness. It is also the reason I stay up so late at night, the reason I am absentminded enough to be a first class airhead, and the reason my friends tell me they absolutely hate having any contact with me unless its face-to-face. Regardless, I think that my incessant multi-tasking works well for me. I am a productive person (though I bet my advisor would disagree), and this 3ajga keeps me constantly inspired and entertained.

Apparently though, I am fooling myself, “Several research reports, both recently published and not yet published, provide evidence of the limits of multitasking. The findings, according to neuroscientists, psychologists and management professors, suggest that many people would be wise to curb their multitasking behavior when working in an office, studying or driving a car.

The human brain, with its hundred billion neurons and hundreds of trillions of synaptic connections, is a cognitive powerhouse in many ways. “But a core limitation is an inability to concentrate on two things at once,” said René Marois, a neuroscientist and director of the Human Information Processing Laboratory at Vanderbilt University.” (read whole article here)

So, what do you think? Is multi-tasking a productivity curber or enhancer? Are you a multi-tasker?

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