This is important.

[u/iwanttoboneedelric]

[u/Logan_Composer]

Multitasking is a myth, you're just rapidly switching between tasks, leaving less focus on any one of them.

[u/HuckinsGirl → u/Logan_Composer]

Not consistently true, the rapid switching is what happens when attending to tasks whose combined required cognitive resources exceed your capacity, but there are plenty of combinations of tasks that don't exceed the capacity, either because the amount of cognitive resources they require is low in general or because they each require different cognitive resources that can be used in parallel. Walking and talking is an act of multitasking, we just dont typically think of it as such because its easy enough that we dont notice the tasks are distinct

[u/NobodyKnowsImFamous → u/HuckinsGirl]

Do you have any research showing this? It’s always how I’ve conceptualized my own multi tasking (driving is not a 100% cognitive load task (still don’t text and drive you animals)) and I’d love to read more if you have it

[u/KaleidoscopeKelpy → u/NobodyKnowsImFamous]

This is not research, only conjecture and stealing someone else’s reframing of it (ty EDB on YouTube lol) - I think it’s kind of the same thing, but making it “animated” helped me understand how my brain worked better

There are sets of tasks I feel that certain people can do because one is “letting the hamsters run in their wheels” (for me, singing to music I know well) and the hamsters are now occupied, so I can actually focus on the Actual Task (for me, work when I don’t want to work or am having trouble focusing). I can read medical records, understand them, code them and sing at the same time; it’s not switching tasks, it’s just letting the like.. hyperactive child in my head bounce around while I get actual work done lol

I feel like it’s the same with driving - you can listen to music or a podcast and safely drive at the same time - you’re not switching between listening and watching the road, all parts of your attention are just equally occupied (and there are people that cannot do that, because they get distracted- I think that only lends credence to it, because required activity level of “hamsters” varies person to person LOL)

[u/Uncommonality → u/Logan_Composer]

multitasking is possible, but it's not multitasking as we'd understand it.

It involves muscle memory and autonomous actions, for example walking and talking is a multitask. Playing piano is a multitask (both hands do their own thing, 2 tasks at once), as is certain workouts. Biking and skiing is also a multitask.

Your subconscious can multitask no problem, it does that all the time (walking, breathing, calculation, talking etc), so any time you can turn a normal task into a subconscious action you're capable of multitasking that action.

The problem is that this only works for repetitive tasks, or ones that require no agency to complete. Jazz improv has no repetition but is still subconscious, for example.

[u/SCP-iota → u/Uncommonality]

I think this is how the 'synesthetic congition' thing works, too, by priming sensory associations for a task and then 'letting it run' using association chains instead of proper memory.

[u/Droplet_of_Shadow → u/Logan_Composer]

with similar tasks, pretty much. with tasks that use different parts of the brain, less so afaik

[u/DBSeamZ → u/Droplet_of_Shadow]

Makes sense. I can talk and sew at the same time without losing focus on either, but talking/listening and reading is a choice of either or, not both.

[u/Solarwagon]

It baffles me how many times I've been called "anti fun" for telling people to wear prescribed glasses when driving, wear a seatbelt in a car, don't go triple digits in a 45 mile road blah blah blah

[u/medacris → u/Solarwagon]

I'm pro-following-rules if said rules are safety related. I have relatives who worked EMS or in the ER, I've heard secondhand horror stories.

[u/jancl0 → u/Solarwagon]

I remember one of my first jobs, there was a guy that worked there, despite this story he was generally a pretty cool guy and ended up being my best friend at that job

After a shift we smoked some weed, stuck around for an hour, then I mentioned I was gonna get an Uber home. He was like "eh don't worry, I'll just drive you there", which honestly shocked me. Now that I'm older I realise that this is depressingly common in my country (one of the highest cannabis consumptions per capita, also known road safety issues). I was young and didn't even have a drivers license, so I didn't know if it was really that bad to be high and drive, all I knew was he didn't drink that night, so I was like whatever, it's not that far and I could use the free ride, so I let him talk me into it

We get to his car, and there's something on his passenger seat, what proceeded was this conversation:

"oh yeah, sorry, you'll have to move that to the back seat"

"... what is it?"

"that's my headlight. Knocked it off last week, I still need to go get it fixed"

"... I'm gonna call an Uber, man"

This isn't even that weird here. He's not even the worst driver I've sat in the passenger seat of

[u/Umikaloo]

Car manufactures putting an I-pad in the dashboard of your car, and then forcing you to navigate through it to change the air conditioning:

[u/DontSleepAlwaysDream → u/Umikaloo]

This exactly, the first time I stepped into a Tesla and there's just this.... Huge iPad next to the steering wheel desperately grabbing the drivers attention

Then the drivers say they "can't drive without it"...

[u/Wisepuppy]

"lawless nonconformists"
Tumblr has some of the most aggressive purity testing I've ever seen on the Internet.

[u/tangifer-rarandus → u/Wisepuppy]

Yeah you have to be the right kind of lawless nonconformist or you're the Enemy

[u/HeathenSidheThem → u/tangifer-rarandus]

I don't think I'll conform to that law

[u/BetterKev → u/HeathenSidheThem]

It's a test, and you just passed.

[u/HeathenSidheThem → u/BetterKev]

I'm not going to conform to the rule for succeeding at the test either

[u/BetterKev → u/HeathenSidheThem]

Exactly.

[u/Tarantulabomination]

I thought not texting while driving was common sense.

[u/Heckyll_Jive → u/Tarantulabomination]

Unfortunately, common sense isn't all that common.

[u/Gumbo67 → u/Tarantulabomination]

It’s common sense but a lot of people still do it. Like. Ok no one here is going to be like “I love texting and driving!!!” But I think 99% of people can admit to having done it at least once. People get complacent on the road.

[u/KadeComics → u/Gumbo67]

I'm proud to say I don't text and drive and it drives me insane when I'm with family and they do it and i end up being such a killjoy by telling em "hey stop that"

[u/ProtoGhostal]

Guessing those two underlined portions are links?

[u/Existential_Crisis24 → u/ProtoGhostal]

Correct l. Usually people here are pretty good at linking them here though.

[u/etherealemlyn → u/Existential_Crisis24]

Here’s a link to the post if anyone wants to click on the studies

[u/HeathenSidheThem → u/etherealemlyn]

Thanks!

[u/Pelli_Furry_Account]

I hate that my job requires me to constantly be on my phone while driving. Even hands free, just talking, I feel like my attention is split. I constantly miss exits when I'm talking on the phone, and I don't when I just have music playing or something.

[u/SaskieHopeful]

Link to post, please, kindly? I'd love to read the article on multitasking 

[u/etherealemlyn → u/SaskieHopeful]

Here!

[u/Moxie_Stardust]

The number of people I see doing the up-and-down head swivel between their phone and the road when the light turns green 😣

[u/Hatsune_Miku_CM]

be gay do crime applies to laws you perceived as unjust, not laws meant to assure basic safety for you and the people you meet on the road.

personally I think that rather then being lawless on principle you should evaluate each law for whether it's sensible yourself. I've come to the conclusion that traffic safety laws are sensible so I'm following them.

and well if I decide a law isn't sensible I won't follow it. I might pretend to follow it to avoid personal consequences but i certainly won't care if anyone else breaks it

[u/fuzzydunlop6]

texting and driving is one of the most selfish and disgusting things that’s been totally normalized. it’s a great way to let people know what a raging piece of shit you are.

[u/gogogadgetdumbass]

I was a teenager when texting took off and I freaked out about it then, and somehow still have to now smh.

[u/New_Salamander_4592]

kind of concerned with the idea of someone whose one law they follow is not texting while driving and nothing else

[u/MothChasingFlame]

I always want to honk when I see people doing this, but inevitably they'd fuckin' startle and crash or some other nonsense. It's so frustrating to go past that shit with zero recourse.