Contemplation

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Contemplating Communication - Part 2

A silence on the line.

Have you ever been talking on the phone with a friend when you realize there is profound quiet on the other end of the line and the person with whom you were speaking is mentally far away, not really listening to you? 

Most likely the person is in the throes of what they may call “multitasking.” True, it could be you are simply boring them. But the kind thing to do in that instance is for them to make some excuse to just end the phone call.

This hasn’t happened to me very often but when it does it’s disconcerting—and rude! When I sense this “vacancy” on the other end of the line I usually ask if the person would like to hang up and “…we can talk later.” The quick, almost panicked comment is “Oh no! Sorry I was just…” checking my instant messages/writing a grocery list/looking at the calendar, etc.

Pam  is all ears and energetic asides when I am talking about or commenting on events in her world, her life. The silence happens when I veer into my world, away from something pertaining specifically to her. 

Pam only thinks she is having a conversation with me; thinks she can combine listening to her friend speak while also doing any number of other visual or mental tasks.

Then again, maybe I'm boring her!

I recently read of a Stanford University study which shows multitasking (media multi-tasking in particular) takes a toll on the brain. The study concluded that "...people who juggle multiple forms of electronic media have trouble controlling their memory, paying attention or switching from one task to another as effectively as those who complete one task at a time."

Adam Gazzaley, a professor of neurology and psychiatry calls multitasking a myth. Task switching is more accurate, he says. “Our brains don’t excel at doing too many things at once.”