Multitasking and Youth

Last week while preparing for a presentation I'm giving I watched a good PBS Frontline documentary.  This documentary, Digital Nation, was a series of stories focusing on the impacts of technology on our society.  One of the many topics covered was the increase in multitasking.  While the focus was on the adoption of multitasking by youth, the issue applies to adults as well.

In the documentary, researchers discussed findings from recent studies showing the impacts multitasking has on these youths.  The findings showed increased challenges for maintaining focus, slower performance while multitasking, diminished recall, reduced analytic reasoning, and lower reading and writing skills.  While the authors admitted more research is needed, these initial findings are disconcerting.