SENIOR SCRIBES
But What About-----?
By Mona Lease

Hi, all!! I was speaking with a woman the other day. We were on the phone - I could tell she was only half listening to me. I asked her if she was busy. She said she was only partly listening to the TV and just doing a crossword puzzle. I thought about our conversation - that's one thing - the TV is two - and the puzzle is three!? Multitasking immediately entered my mind. My mind took a veer I am not sure I wanted it to go. But, consider this -

Who; exactly, came up with the idea - and it's application to a personal life? OK - I understand that a business needs to multitask...corporations need to multitask. Multitasking originated as "computer multitasking" and has made it's way to "human multitasking." Wikipedia defines it as: "Human multitasking" is the apparent performance by an individual of handling more than one task at the same time.The term is derived from "computer multitasking." An example of human multitasking is taking a phone call while typing an e.mail. Multitasking can result in time wasted due to "human context switching" and apparently causing more errors due to insufficient attention (to what you are doing - I added) en.wikipedis.org/wiki/Human_multitasking.

In the computer, a context switch is the process of storing and restoring the "context" so that execution from the same point can be resumed at a later time. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Context_switching. I've added these addresses in case you'd like to read this in further detail. Our human brains are not set up to operate the above way. And if they can do it - it's not over the long haul of the "aging process" - which a computer does not possess.

Now for our personal application - I'll sidestep the obvious "who told us multitasking applied to our personal lives" and move to society - as a whole. If - at the end of the day - when the husband comes home - the wife says she spent the day doing the necessary household chores (laundry, dishes, cooking, etc.) - with the rest of her day being spent keeping her mind where it needed to be (home, family, etc.) - what would happen? I mean, if a wife spent the day consciously not dwelling on past hurts, the neighbor's constant flow of "visitors", etc. - would anything positive happen? If we quit making money a "paper god" and really listened to each other - no TV, puzzles, etc. - what would we hear?

Knowing that every computer is programmed with what to "think" and what to "say" - is multitasking how the prescription mix up happened a month or so ago, now? Is multitasking how personal information gets thrown in the trash and not shredded like it is supposed to be handled?

Ultimately - if a child goes to his Mother or Father - who is multitasking (maybe TV/phone/dinner/laundry,etc.) and asks if he can play with Billy, the new kid on the block (everyone else is!) - he is told it is ok...but no one checks to see who Billy "is"...could unwanted "consequences" be avoided? Knowing that multitasking leaves supposed "free time" - if we just do not overcrowd our lives with "stuff" we might not really want in the beginning - would it change anything? If; instead of medicating our thoughts, we just look at them and decide which ones to keep and which ones to ignore - would it change anything? And this one mystifies me - We clean the house, the toilet, the yard, the car, the closet, the attic, the garage - we do not clean our minds?" How could we have a healthy body if we have a sick mind...or at least a mind filled with turbulent thoughts?

Remember the kiddies and our service people. Take good care of the furry and feathered ones out there. Be safe and healthy. See ya next time. Ever Toodles!! MONA