Simultaneous? I can’t do that
When this single from Foyer des Arts was released in 1986, multitasking was not yet a popular term. Internet access and mobile phones were not yet part of the standard equipment, even fax machines were not to be found in almost every office until the end of the 80s. In other words, life in the office must have been like a wellness oasis compared to today (I was still in school at the time and can’t judge it). Today, we constantly check our e-mails, surf eBay at the same time, chat with three colleagues at the same time, search a search engine for clues as to whether there is an update for an application, and call our tax advisor at the same time. This simultaneity is to the disadvantage of most people, according to an article in the New York Times that appeared in the Monday edition of the Süddeutsche Zeitung on April 2, 2007 (unfortunately I did not find a link to an original article). Multitasking not only slows you down, it also brings in more errors, according to one of the interviewees. Even though the brain can produce incredible achievements, it still cannot concentrate on more than one thing at a time, and switching from one activity to another at the same time costs 1 second. It doesn’t sound like much, but one thing leads to another, and it is assumed that disruptions cost the American economy $650 billion a year. However, an interruption also means that work is done again or an idea is exchanged with a colleague. Here, too, it is assumed that software can help in the future by acting as a “time nanny”. There is some interesting work on this by Eric Horvitz from Microsoft.