Time

That's right, you read the title correctly. Yesterday, I found myself typing away in a messenger conversation while catching up on my RSS feeds on one monitor and watching a video on the other. Last week, I was answering a phone call (yes, I do use a handsfree) while fidling with the car`s AC system and changing lanes at the same time. What a little Napoleon I`ve become, you must be thinking to yourself at the moment.

But the number of tthings I can do at the same time is not my point here. It is a rather strange contrast I have found while looking around. I am not alone in performing multiple tasks at the same time. We all do this. And because of the way their brain works, women are better multitaskers than men.

All these computers, smartphones, networks and other devices have given us "the power of multitasking". "Perfect", some of you will say. "Now we can get more things done in less time". That would be the common logic behind this, wouldn't it? Well... no. That's in fact very far from the truth.

Now here comes the paradox. The more time you actually spend multitasking, the less time you seem to have for anything else. Nonsense, you say? Let's look at the actual facts:

Let's say you often listen to or watch a show. Chances are, you can get it online, either stream it or download it. Add in a multimedia player or a decent smartphone, and you have the recepy for taking that show with you and enjoying it on the train, on the bus, taxi, or whatevr form of transport you take to the office each day. While doing that, you`re missing out on the world around you: that new amazing building they just finished a few blocks from you. That coffee shop they opened round the corner from your office. That beautiful girl that sat next to you on the bus.

Still reading? Let's take some other example. Your boss sends you on a three day business trip. But you still have to finish that project for the meeting on Tuesday morning. So you inform him you cannot do both. You are only human. So you end up going on that business trip, you get to visit a new town, do some business and still have some time so enjoy the trip. But wait! How about that $3000 lap top that the company gave you? You can take that with you, and after a day of changing planes, checking into hotels and sitting down with some people in a meeting, you can get back to your hotel room, have a few cups of coffee and finish your project for Tuesday morning! Horray for you, you amazing multitasker, you! Now you can even work on your lunch brake in that coffee shop they opened round the corner from your office.

The point of all this? Is technology bad? Not always. You also got to follow your show while on the road and kept in touch with your family back home, thousands of kilometers away. The bad part is... we haven't figured out a way to use it yet. Yes, I have a mobile phone that enables me to talk to whomever I want whenever I want, but do you always want to be reached at all times? Maybe you are just trying to relax during your holiday, or trying to go through a nice family dinner without having your boss asking you where you put that file.

Technology is ultimately usefull. It is here to make our lives easier. Now we just have to figure out how. We need the appropriate mannerism on how to integrate technology in our lives.