Have you ever started one thing and then gotten so engrossed in something else you forgot the first? Usually that’s okay. But, when the first thing is hardboiling eggs, it’s not. I’ll admit I’ve lost two pans over four decades and am lucky that’s all I lost. I now set a timer, not the one on the stove or microwave, but one I can put in my pocket. Turn on the burner, set the timer, put the timer in my pocket, walk away. Of course I am then startled when the timer goes off. If often takes a couple of seconds before the word ‘eggs’ takes me back to what I’d started 20 minutes earlier.
In the 1980s portable phones expanded our multitasking options while having a conversation. Now our phones themselves multitask along with us. Even as I use it to send a text, my phone is my diary and archive, my calendar and camera. It connects me to google and social media, my work and personal emails. It could be my timer, if I could figure that out.
It’s hard to do just one thing anymore. I remember when television was new and seemed like magic, so we sat in rapt attention. Now I can’t just watch TV; my hands need to be doing something. After I took a class in using leaves in artwork, a walk was no longer a walk. I had my eyes out for useful specimens, then when I started birdwatching, it was hard to know whether I was in search of leaves or birds.
Studies tell us that we are not as good multitaskers as we think. I can have music on the the background as I write, although like this musing, if I don’t have an end in mind, I can find myself tapping my foot and paying more attention to the tune than the keyboard and screen. Do you find that if your mind is not set on one thing you can easily get distracted. Oops, there’s the doorbell. Catch you next week!
Marilyn
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