Timestamp 2:48… & My Hyperfixation on Multi-tasking

*This post has been written as part of my journey as a Ph.D student through University of Regina

Is the Internet really a productivity tool or merely an endless series of distractions?

I have to admit that I did NOT make it through this video before I picked up my phone… I know… not a good start.

I am someone who has a multi-screen set-up in my office as well as additional tools such as my phone or tablet within reach as well. It is not uncommon for me to have a double-digit amount of tabs open (across multiple screens) while I am working. However, I feel that it is not the tool itself that is the distraction, its how one uses it. Sure, I could have one of my screens streaming TV if I really wanted to. In that case I would say that, yes, that would be a distraction. I would also be lying if I didn’t mention that I have used my additional screens to stream cartoons for my children while I completed time-sensitive tasks for work.

With that being said, I strongly believe that I would NOT be able to do my job effectively without the internet and being connected to a multitude of platforms simultaneously. For example, if I get an email from a staff member enquiring about when their projector in their room is going to be fixed I need to:

• open up our IT organization platform SchoolDude to check the status of the staff member’s request and see what notes are present from our technician team
• I will then open up a collaborative spreadsheet from our finance department to see on what date the parts were ordered and if we have received everything yet
• I will then go into our divisional inventory network to see if there are extra projectors I can share with the teacher until the work is complete
• I could also reach out to neighbouring school divisions regarding their inventory
• I will then go back to the email to update the staff member
• I will then go back to SchoolDude and write any updated notes to the technician team

For that one task I required at least four separate platforms and four separate web browser tabs. I would argue that access to these platforms and the internet is much MORE productive than if I needed to play telephone tag with each of these departments, interrupting their day, to get the correct information and relay it back.

Has the Internet created a world of ‘multitaskers’ who don’t accomplish as much as they could have without it?

I feel like this is a particularly difficult question for me to answer because, as someone who is neurodivergent, I often appear to be multitasking at every given moment. I know that they way by brain prioritizes tasks and sequences activities is often different than those around me. I want to offer a recent anecdote that I found interesting:

In September our administrative council participated in a professional development session in which there was to be nothing in front of you as they asked you to be 100% present to the task at hand. As part of this, our laptops, cellphones, etc were in another room. Through my adult experience as a learner I had relied on having some type of digital device in front of me during learning sessions and meetings. It is not uncommon for me to spend the duration of a meeting:

• typing out the presenters information word-for-word
• looking up definitions to unfamiliar terms
• bookmarking any links to videos, websites, resources that are shared
• making notes in my digital calendar to follow-up on tasks and/or create a to-do list based on the information being shared
• noting questions I have to bring back to the presenter or a colleauge

This is my routine whether it is on my phone or a laptop, whether it is a university class, meeting, professional development session, etc. It is something that works well for me and I had never had it called into question or reflected on it before. It is also not something that is easily replicated with just a paper and a pen.

During this recent experience however, it became very apparent that my lack of multi-tasking was not working for me. I was physically uncomfortable, could not sit still, and barely remember anything that happened within that session. I practically ran from the room during the morning break and had, what I would self-describe as a panic attack in a nearby office. A colleauge assisted me in finding a fidgit toy from our school clinician team to use through the rest of the day but I did not thrive during the session. Not only do I not remember a lot of what was shared, but I also do not know where to go from here as I don’t have the resources or notes I made for myself in order to follow up.

I know that this is not the case for everyone but I found it interesting that, given this prompt, I can safely say that I accomplish much less when I do NOT have the opportunity to multi-task.

 Tips as to how the one can be more productive online or offline

• Location-based reminders
  • I am shared between 16 schools and use the location services of my phone and a digital assistant to automatically remind me of my to-do list as I approach a given building
• Start up tabs
  • I have Chrome customized to open up the four most commonly used websites I need when I first open it in the morning
• Mouse/curser size
  • I purposefully set my mouse/curser to a large size and noticable colour so that it is easy to follow while I provide tech training to our staff
  • This reduces the amount I have to repeat instructions because they can easily see where I am clicking
• Pick a suite and stick to it
  • Whether that is Google/Microsoft, Apple/Android, etc by picking one suite it will reduce the amount of time you are converting and playing around with features in order to get things to “play nice” with each other
• Use an ad blocker
  • A good ad blocker extension will stop you from seeing pop-up ads, banner ads, sponsored posts on social media, ads in videos, etc
  • Definitely a good idea if you are easily distracted or simply want your set-up to appear more professional
• Customize your notifications
  • I use social media regularly as part of my job so I make sure to customize my notifications so that only my work accounts will create notifications during the day
  • I also have my work email set so that I only receive emails from my senior admin team (ie: emergencies) after work hours
• Hidden ribbons within Office 365
  • I use Office 365 for my work as well as university classes and will often change my settings to simplify or hide the ribbon at the top of the page
  • This reduces the visual clutter of the screen and allows me to focus purely on the content I am creating rather than any customization of fonts/designs/etc (which I can add in after)
• Print-mode in Microsoft Edge
  • This takes a standard website and converts it to a simple Word-document-style appearance (no ads, no fancy displays, etc)
  • It allows the user to focus purely on the information and not on any of the ads or extra embellishments (images and videos that are part of the information do carry over)