As soon as we come across the word "multitasking", what comes into our mind is our modern processor. Yes,modern processor's architecture and organizations are evolved to such extent so that they can handle multiple tasks so nicely.
Along with modern processor, in fact prior to modern processor, we have another entity which can exhibit multitasking phenomena better than modern processor. Guess what!!
It's our brain,the most complex part of universe!!
It is our multitasking machine we carry with,to be precise,within us.
Let me explain brain's mechanism of handling multitasking by clearing following misconceptions which are common to most people.
Misconception1->Multi tasking saves time.
Misconception2->Multi Tasking and Concurrent Tasking are same.
1-> Multi tasking doesn't save time!!! And worse part is, it may, sometimes, lead to consume more time than we take for doing one task at a time!! Weird Huh!! Not convinced!!
Take a pen and paper. Do the following exercise, it'll be a fun!:
Case 1:
Write down "Multi tasking is weird".
And then below each character, assign numbers sequentially. i.e., 1 below 'w',2 below 'u', 3 below 'l' and so on.
Note how much time you've taken.
Done!!
Now!! Do the following:
Case 2:
Now we need to do the same thing. But instead assigning numbers after completely writing the sentence, do that after writing each character.
i.e., First write 'W' and write '1' below it.
Then write 'u' and write '2' below it. Continue till the end of whole sentence.
Try yaar!!
Done!!
You should have noted you've taken more time. And you must have felt difficult to do it as well!!
Why it is so!!! Because:
We are assuming our brain is doing concurrent tasking. But, in fact, it just doing multi-tasking.
2-> Multi tasking and concurrent tasking are not same. Concurrent tasking means doing multiple tasks parallelly. Multitasking is switching between multiple tasks and executing each task in such a way, that we get a feeling that we are doing the tasks concurrently.
Eg:With reference to above exercise:
We have two tasks in the exercise.
1. Writing the alphabets of the sentence.
2. Writing the numbers in sequence.
In case1 we have done one task after another. No multitasking. No concurrent tasking.
In case2 we felt we've done two tasks parallelly. But what actually happened is our brain was switching between reminding alphabets and reminding number sequence. Yes It was switching.
That's why you've taken more time (because of switching delay) and felt difficult or tired (because of switching power loss).
(For our exercise, concurrent execution of tasks would be:
One person writing sentence, another person assigning numbers below each character as soon as it is written.)
Now the misconceptions are cleared.
Now lets see implications of multitasking.
To better understand the implications, let me give a metaphor. When we open more applications in mobile phone and try to run them concurrently. Then efficiency of processor reduces and sometimes our phone may hang!! Everyone must have felt the pain of having phone hanged in our hands!!
Similar effects will be on our brain when we do frequent multi tasking. However, it may not hang like smart phone, but it's efficiency comes down considerably, as you must of have observed while doing above exercise.
REason for this reduction of efficiency is...
We know brain consumes lots energy to perform it's duties. When we try to frequently switch its duties, it'll lose some energy in the process of switching.
It's just like our body loses energy if we frequently hop between two rocks.
A better example would be(for ECE folks), if we frequently switch a transistor state, we'll lose some power as switching power.
So, as a learned person, henceforth... Do not open chat boxes while you study. Do not watch TV while eating. Lest, your brain under-performs.
So the conclusion is, reduce temptation to distract from the task you are doing.
Stay concentrated. Stay with lasting brain efficiency.
Have a nice day!!
Along with modern processor, in fact prior to modern processor, we have another entity which can exhibit multitasking phenomena better than modern processor. Guess what!!
It's our brain,the most complex part of universe!!
It is our multitasking machine we carry with,to be precise,within us.
Let me explain brain's mechanism of handling multitasking by clearing following misconceptions which are common to most people.
Misconception1->Multi tasking saves time.
Misconception2->Multi Tasking and Concurrent Tasking are same.
1-> Multi tasking doesn't save time!!! And worse part is, it may, sometimes, lead to consume more time than we take for doing one task at a time!! Weird Huh!! Not convinced!!
Take a pen and paper. Do the following exercise, it'll be a fun!:
Case 1:
Write down "Multi tasking is weird".
And then below each character, assign numbers sequentially. i.e., 1 below 'w',2 below 'u', 3 below 'l' and so on.
Note how much time you've taken.
Done!!
Now!! Do the following:
Case 2:
Now we need to do the same thing. But instead assigning numbers after completely writing the sentence, do that after writing each character.
i.e., First write 'W' and write '1' below it.
Then write 'u' and write '2' below it. Continue till the end of whole sentence.
Try yaar!!
Done!!
You should have noted you've taken more time. And you must have felt difficult to do it as well!!
Why it is so!!! Because:
We are assuming our brain is doing concurrent tasking. But, in fact, it just doing multi-tasking.
2-> Multi tasking and concurrent tasking are not same. Concurrent tasking means doing multiple tasks parallelly. Multitasking is switching between multiple tasks and executing each task in such a way, that we get a feeling that we are doing the tasks concurrently.
Eg:With reference to above exercise:
We have two tasks in the exercise.
1. Writing the alphabets of the sentence.
2. Writing the numbers in sequence.
In case1 we have done one task after another. No multitasking. No concurrent tasking.
In case2 we felt we've done two tasks parallelly. But what actually happened is our brain was switching between reminding alphabets and reminding number sequence. Yes It was switching.
That's why you've taken more time (because of switching delay) and felt difficult or tired (because of switching power loss).
(For our exercise, concurrent execution of tasks would be:
One person writing sentence, another person assigning numbers below each character as soon as it is written.)
Now the misconceptions are cleared.
Now lets see implications of multitasking.
To better understand the implications, let me give a metaphor. When we open more applications in mobile phone and try to run them concurrently. Then efficiency of processor reduces and sometimes our phone may hang!! Everyone must have felt the pain of having phone hanged in our hands!!
Similar effects will be on our brain when we do frequent multi tasking. However, it may not hang like smart phone, but it's efficiency comes down considerably, as you must of have observed while doing above exercise.
REason for this reduction of efficiency is...
We know brain consumes lots energy to perform it's duties. When we try to frequently switch its duties, it'll lose some energy in the process of switching.
It's just like our body loses energy if we frequently hop between two rocks.
A better example would be(for ECE folks), if we frequently switch a transistor state, we'll lose some power as switching power.
So, as a learned person, henceforth... Do not open chat boxes while you study. Do not watch TV while eating. Lest, your brain under-performs.
So the conclusion is, reduce temptation to distract from the task you are doing.
Stay concentrated. Stay with lasting brain efficiency.
Have a nice day!!
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