Where's the multitask region?

I love catching sleep while in a moving plane, train or automobile.

There is something satisfying about being able to perform such different tasks simultaneously. Ok, I admit, the moving vehicle requires a pilot, an engineer or a driver…and consequently this has always been someone else.

Besides this form of multitasking, as much as we would like to think otherwise, the human brain can not multitask. This is a fact has been flogged in many scientific journals, public radio and neuroscience books.

However, I think we all collectively deny this fact so that we may “genuinely” believe we are paying attention in parallel to the conversation of a conference call,  emails blasting into our Inbox and chirps coming from our smartphones.

I, guilty of supporting this delusional myth, was on a conference call this week on my iPhone. It was one of those calls with many people on it and admittedly my brain started to wander.

Look puppy dog! Focus!

I came up with a brilliant plan on how I was going to focus. I could put the iPhone on speaker and then check my emails so I could stop thinking random thoughts. I glanced down.

Where’s the option to move to the home screen like on my Blackberry?

Crap, the iPhone can’t multitask. But my, what a pretty looking “End Call” button…

Loni Stark
Loni Stark is an artist at Atelier Stark, psychology researcher, and technologist whose work explores the intersection of identity, creativity, and technology. A self-professed foodie and adventure travel enthusiast, she collaborates on visual storytelling projects with Clinton Stark for Stark Insider. Her insights are shaped by her role at Adobe, influencing her explorations into the human-tech relationship. It's been said her laugh can still be heard from San Jose up to the Golden Gate Bridge—unless sushi, her culinary Kryptonite, has momentarily silenced her.