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iron_mike
Apr 13, 12 7:23
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women and multitasking
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where did the old chestnut about women being 'better' multitaskers than men come from? it's sort of taken for granted, but lately i've seen a handful of situations that have me wondering. women who can't really answer questions while they're watching TV, or who swerve all over the road when they're looking at their GPS, or whatever. are there 'types' of multitasking? is this a social or a neurological phenomenon? anyone?
-mike
____________________________________
http://utoronto.academia.edu/MikeCallaghan
http://howtobeswiss.blogspot.ch/
MJuric
Apr 13, 12 7:53
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Re: women and multitasking [iron_mike]
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where did the old chestnut about women being 'better' multitaskers than men come from?
I think it came from the fact that women tend to be more social and do jobs that can be done while multitasking. It's relatively easy to Cook dinner, while having the laundry going and be picking up at the same time. Not so easy to do anything but dig a ditch when you're digging a ditch. That's where I think it came from...I tend to think it's not true.
My wife can't do more than one thing at a time to save her life and get's pretty frazzeled sometimes when she's forced to. Me OTOH, suffers from a bit of ADHD and tend to have a bragillion things going all at the same time all the time....which of course drives my wife nuts :-)
Like most of these stereotypes I think it's a genetic/personality issue. Some people, regardless of sex, are good at multitasking, others are not.
~Matt
Duffy
Apr 13, 12 8:04
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Re: women and multitasking [MJuric]
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It's relatively easy to Cook dinner, while having the laundry going and be picking up at the same time.
You might want to go hide in the garage.
____________________________________________________
"This hip-hoppers ended up tightly connected with basketball along with highway dances."
Katy
Apr 13, 12 8:51
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Re: women and multitasking [iron_mike]
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I'm not sure how multitasking is gender related. If I'm watching hockey (especially at this time of year), no I'm not answering questions and you should know better than to ask at that time. I can look at gps w/o swerving, thankfully since my sense of direction often leaves a bit to be desired.
As far as cooking dinner while doing laundry and cleaning up, well that depends on what you cook for dinner. Generally I'm multitasking when I cook dinner just to get everything done at the right time and have the wine poured.
I would say I'm the better multi-tasker between my bf and I, but not because he's a man. He's more focused and distractions annoy him, so generally one thing at a time is how he works best.
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Awww, Katy's not all THAT evil. Only slightly evil. In a good way. - JasoninHalifax
Duffy
Apr 13, 12 8:59
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Re: women and multitasking [Katy]
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I'm much better than my wife at getting all of the dinner elements to ready at the same time. I don't consider making dinner to be multitasking. "I'm making dinner". That's one job with various elements.
When my wife makes dinner she's also trying to do other things and basically just fucks them all up.
Q: Why do Canadians do it doggie style?
A: So they both can watch the hockey game.
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"This hip-hoppers ended up tightly connected with basketball along with highway dances."
MJuric
Apr 13, 12 8:59
Post #6 of 35
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Re: women and multitasking [Duffy]
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You might want to go hide in the garage.
I'm speaking traditionally here as the question was asked "Where did the idea come from". Traditionally women have been in charge of jobs that allow much more multi-tasking than have men. You don't "Multi-task" while driving the tractor or hunting. You do while cooking and gathering.
IOW a man is more likely to multi-task if he was cooking, cleaning and doing the laundry and a women is less likely to multi-task if she were digging a ditch, driving the tractor or hunting...just that traditionally that has not been the job break downs.
But yes if taken alone out of context...I'm a sexist pig :-)
~Matt
Marlonius
Apr 13, 12 9:10
Post #7 of 35
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Re: women and multitasking [MJuric]
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I've read and saw a documentary about this. The gist of it is that women and men's brains are different. Men can't actually multi-task. When we perceive ourselves to be doing so, we're actually toggling between tasks, but not doing 2 at once. Apparently women aren't the same.
I imagine back to the caveman days when the men were hunting and focused soley on that, whereas the cave women were near the cave, picking berries, but also keeping an eye on the kids...
The book I read and enjoyed was called "Why Women Can't Read a Map and Men Won't Ask For Directions".
Duffy
Apr 13, 12 9:11
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Re: women and multitasking [MJuric]
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I'm a sexist pig
Yes, I agree. The quote from our previous post in this thread proves it.
____________________________________________________
"This hip-hoppers ended up tightly connected with basketball along with highway dances."
Tridiot
Apr 13, 12 9:56
Post #9 of 35
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Re: women and multitasking [MJuric]
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"But yes if taken alone out of context...I'm a sexist pig :-) "
I'll leave that for others to decide, but the historical origin seems to be clearly pulling from sexist views of men and women.
Quote:
Ron Burgundy
: Big deal. I am very professional.
Veronica Corningstone
: Mr. Burgundy, you are acting like a baby.
Ron Burgundy
: I'm not a baby, I am a man. I am an anchorman.
Veronica Corningstone
: You are not a man. You are a big fat joke.
Ron Burgundy
: I'm a man who discovered the wheel and built the Eiffel Tower out of metal and brawn. That's what kind of man I am. You're just a woman with a small brain. With a brain a third the size of us. It's science.
Veronica Corningstone
: I will have you know that I have more talent and more intelligence in my little finger than you do in your entire body, sir.
Ron Burgundy
: You are a smelly pirate hooker.
Veronica Corningstone
: You look like a blueberry.
Ron Burgundy
: Why don't you go back to your home on Whore Island?
Veronica Corningstone
: Well, you have bad hair.
Ron Burgundy
: [
insulted
] What did you say?
Veronica Corningstone
: I said... your hair... looks stupid.
[
an A-bomb mushroom cloud is reflected in Ron's eyes; the knock-down drag-out fight begins
]
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0357413/quotes
Which is ironic, given that historically the view would be that women are frail both physically and mentally and can't handle the complexities of the male civilized society.
I've personally never heard that women are better at multi-tasking than men, so that's new to me.
It has been shown, rather empirically, that multi-tasking is a waste of time and should be avoided. You waste time mentally hoping between tasks. Better to get them done one at a time.
Duffy
Apr 13, 12 10:03
Post #10 of 35
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Re: women and multitasking [Tridiot]
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It has been shown, rather empirically, that multi-tasking is a waste of time and should be avoided. You waste time mentally hoping between tasks. Better to get them done one at a time.
I try to tell my wife this all of the time. See my above post about making dinner.
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"This hip-hoppers ended up tightly connected with basketball along with highway dances."
Tridiot
Apr 13, 12 10:10
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Re: women and multitasking [Duffy]
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Read that, interesting point.
From a "making food that is tasty" perspective, my wife is 1B times better than me. From a "noodling out food with no recipe" I'm much better (though in the last 5 years she's gotten much better; she's a black/white, right/wrong way type person though).
Could I make a fancy dinner for 10 people with awesome dessert? No. Can she? YES! Can I watch her make said meal and point out several ways to make things easier? Usually.
But the female mind is a mystery...
Katy
Apr 13, 12 10:15
Post #12 of 35
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Re: women and multitasking [Tridiot]
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Can I watch her make said meal and point out several ways to make things easier? Usually.
Yeah, we LOVE that.
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Awww, Katy's not all THAT evil. Only slightly evil. In a good way. - JasoninHalifax
last tri in 83
Apr 13, 12 10:15
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Re: women and multitasking [Tridiot]
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Sounds very much like Mrs LT.
Joking aside, I'm amazed how many things she is working in during the course of a day. She is a microprocessor. If I made a list, it would make me look bad!
ANother thing I noticed is how much aging affects the attention span and the ability to multi-task. If I get interupted, takes me forever to re-engage. Wait, what was I talking about?
_____________________________________________
To err is human, to forgive, canine
BarryP
Apr 13, 12 10:25
Post #14 of 35
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Re: women and multitasking [MJuric]
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Don't forget watching children while doing housework. There's also a lot of secretarial work that involves multitasking.
-----------------------------Baron Von Speedypants
-----------------------------RunTraining articles here:
http://forum.slowtwitch.com/...runtraining;#1612485
Katy
Apr 13, 12 10:27
Post #15 of 35
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Re: women and multitasking [BarryP]
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNkp4QF3we8
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Awww, Katy's not all THAT evil. Only slightly evil. In a good way. - JasoninHalifax
Duffy
Apr 13, 12 10:46
Post #16 of 35
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Re: women and multitasking [BarryP]
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BarryP wrote:
Don't forget watching children while doing housework. There's also a lot of secretarial work that involves multitasking.
... all while doing their nails and getting their makeup just right so they look fresh and appealing when their husband home from the bar, er, I mean work.
____________________________________________________
"This hip-hoppers ended up tightly connected with basketball along with highway dances."
Tridiot
Apr 13, 12 11:24
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Re: women and multitasking [Katy]
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Ah ha, but do I DO IT? No no, I'm not dumb (ok, maybe occasionally).
I know when I can throw in a multi-tasking tip, or offer to help. I don't tell her what to do though (to note, I clean all the bathrooms, do 95% of the dishes, 75% of the laundry, 99.9% of vacuuming, all gardening and lawn mowing, etc).
And have I banished myself from the kitchen? Yes. Why? Because of a meal I made like 6 years ago (pre-marriage) when she was all up in my grill on how I was making a meal. Which I stopped about 2/3s of the way through, with a loud "If you're going to nag me and tell me how to make a meal I've made 400 times in my life since I was 12, then I'm not doing this, ever again."
And I basically never have. She's better at it, and likes it. I make food to consume, she makes meals to enjoy.
I do have intentions of a weekend breakfast by dad type thing. Our son just turned one so in a couple of months he might start enjoying "pancakes by dad" or something.
Katy
Apr 13, 12 11:30
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Re: women and multitasking [Tridiot]
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when she was all up in my grill on how I was making a meal.
Rookie mistake. I never offer anything other than encouragement and praise when he ventures into the kitchen. And if he grills my steak medium instead of medium-rare, not a chance in hell I will complain (or even mention it).
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Awww, Katy's not all THAT evil. Only slightly evil. In a good way. - JasoninHalifax
last tri in 83
Apr 13, 12 11:32
Post #19 of 35
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Re: women and multitasking [Katy]
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Awesome.
_____________________________________________
To err is human, to forgive, canine
AlanShearer
Apr 13, 12 11:33
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Re: women and multitasking [iron_mike]
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My wife's a multi-tasker. She can think about all kinds of other things during sex, while I can only think about other women.
MJuric
Apr 13, 12 11:39
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Re: women and multitasking [Tridiot]
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It has been shown, rather empirically, that multi-tasking is a waste of time and should be avoided. You waste time mentally hoping between tasks. Better to get them done one at a time.
Doesn't this depend entirely how it's being done and what's being done? I just had three systems going at the same time. One I was physically building and two where installing various software. I could have built one machine. Installed the software and sat there until it asked for disk two or was time to start the next install and then when I was all finished moved on to the next one.
Rather than that I built one, started installing software. While the software was installing I was building the second one. When the 2nd one was built I started installing software on it and still on the 1st while building the 3rd.
Yes in some cases you need to "Stay on task", which is what I was alluding to before as the historical difference between "Man work" and "Women work". When you're digging a ditch as soon as you stop digging the job stops. That's not the case anytime there's something else doing work, which could be something as simple as fire for cooking or something that does not take 100% effort or attention like occasionally checking on the playing kids etc.
~Matt
fred_h
Apr 13, 12 11:52
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Re: women and multitasking [MJuric]
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[
Rather than that I built one, started installing software. While the software was installing I was building the second one. When the 2nd one was built I started installing software on it and still on the 1st while building the 3rd. ]
But is this multitasking though? & personally I do not think so. This is more about make efficient use of your time.
When I am on conf calls, I will sometimes (ok usually) also check and answer emails or doing something else. That I would consider to be somewhat multitasking. However when someone asks me a question my first answer is usually:" can you please repeat the question? " :)
Fred.
TriBeer
Apr 13, 12 15:31
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Re: women and multitasking [iron_mike]
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Dr. OZ says it's not good to multi-task anyway: Focus on one task at a time. Have you read your
Women's Day
this month? Check it out. ;)
TriBeer
Apr 13, 12 15:49
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Re: women and multitasking [Katy]
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Reminds me of how I got fired from doing the laundry in our house and glad I did. My husband took over laundry duties after I turned his undies pink. Been married for 31 years and praise him all the time for doing the laundry: "You do a great job and I could never fold like you -- thank you, thank you!"
zmanelite
Apr 13, 12 17:53
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Re: women and multitasking [iron_mike]
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Ron Burgundy for president ! lol
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