I have heard plenty of people give advice on multitasking in your daily life and how this can help you accomplish more tasks. While I do still believe this to be true in a few scenarios, Travis Bradberry’s article “Multitasking Damages Your Brain And Career, New Studies Suggest” advises the complete opposite. Bradberry, although a bit strong-minded, does make some interesting points. He uses plenty of concrete evidence that makes it difficult to argue with his claims. His mentions of multitasking lowering IQ, EQ (emotional intelligence), and damaging your brain are quite frankly frightening things to hear. I am guilty of occasional attempts to multitask, like sending an email while I should be listening to something else, and these facts Bradberry writes about are not something I want to hear. However, I do think hearing them will make me rethink the next time I try to multitask when I probably shouldn’t.
Similar to the topic of multitasking is the debate over whether or not students should be allowed to have laptops and phones in class. In “Rethinking My Cell Phone/Computer Policy”, John Warner begins by stating that he originally didn’t allow students to have devices in class, but eventually changed his thinking. I admire his self-reflection because, unfortunately, this is something many professors are not willing to try. Warner realizes that he cannot have total control over his students and needs to respect them as adults, and just has to hope that they respect him and his teaching as well. As a student, I think that this truthfully is a great way to go about teaching a class. I have been in both kinds of classes, one where the professor is strict about no devices and one where they are more like Warner after reflection. After having experience with both kinds of professors, I do think that the professor should show that they respect the students and their ability to choose whether or not they want to actively listen in a class because, in turn, this will make the students more likely to want to pay attention and do better in class.
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