Clifford Nass was a professor at Stanford University that studied the effects of multitasking on college students. He died Saturday at Stanford Sierra Camp near South Lake Tahoe according to his
Obituary, which outlines his studies. At Stanford, he was amazed by students who browsed Facebook and Twitter, texted on their cellphones, and did homework, all at once. At first, he envied the "skill," asking why he couldn't do it himself. Unfortunately, his studies showed that the multitaskers were actually terrible at organizing information, switching between tasks, and discerning significance. Writing samples from multitaskers showed less complex ideas, and he described them as "living and writing in a staccato world."
Pictured: Clifford Nass with various distracting objects
Writing this blog post, I have a video chat going on in the background, and occasional texts and Facebook notifications. My friends are commonly in similar situations. I think that his research holds true for many students, and we should learn from it.
Are you a multitasker? What are you doing at this very moment? Would you be more efficient if you did one thing at a time?
