multi tasking

[Starbar]

What's this myth about women and multi tasking ?
Is this just a stock phrase out of the world of woman ?

[dml54]

Just saw your question whilst I was in the middle of cleaning the bathroom, making the beds, getting lunch ready, feeding the dog, weeding the garden, reading my book, putting the shopping away, - it could well be a myth.....

[commoner]

don't think any of those would be called multi tasking dml......to multi task you have to do things at the same time........you couldn't get lunch and weed the garden at the same time......

....a woman could however breastfeed the baby, watch tv and hold a conversation on the phone all at the same time as she scratched an itch and smoked a fag plus a few more things I have no doubt...................<G>

[campbellking]

When mobilising our patients, men are incapable of answering a question and moving at the same time. Women have no problem with this.
Walking and talking, a fine example of female multi-tasking!

[southerngirl]

It's all to do with the different way men and women think. Women, who are communicators by genetics are capable of doing something whilst talking about something else. This is why women talk and work at the same time in an office. Womens brains are hardwired to deal with more than one thing, harking back to the cavemen days when they were left behind whilst the men hunted. They would bond with each other which was extremely important to keep the group co-hesive, but had to cook the food, mind the children, tend the sick etc. at the same time

On the other hand, men tend to compartmentalize by concentrating on the task in hand and are easily distracted by outside influences. When hunting in the caveman days, they would go out and have to kill to live, so had to concentrate on what they were doing. The nature of their task was such that silence was essential in order that prey was not scared off. Therefore the men bonded by their experiences rather than their communication skills.

I'm actually listening to a film on the TV and can tell you what it is all about and thinking of what else I've got to do today, whilst writing this. A man would either tune the film out or switch off the TV in order to concentrate and would certainly not be thinking about anything else.

[Starbar]

Hey southerngirl, What film were you listening to, can you tell us all about it, what else have you got to do today?

[joko]

it is a myth that women stayed behind while men hunted.

any young fit and capable women in the community would be out hunting too - just one or two would stay behind and tend the cave etc - perhaps the lame or weak or pregnant or the ones too young to hunt but able enough to work - say 10 years old. (of course this would change depending on lifestyle - nomadic single families or larger communities)

it is our society that has created this 'image'.

woman were, and are, strong and fit and capable - the only reason many women, these days, become thin and feeble and squeamish, and incapable is because they believe it is their role and they believe physical roles are the mens - this is our society, not nature.

these people were starving for much of the time, they would have needed all hands to the deck to ensure they had enough food - there is no way they would have had 15-20 (or whatvever) fit and able bodied women sitting around in a cave prodding the fire

even now, one nurse will tend a ward, one person will tend the kids in the creche, one teacher for 30 kids etc

they simply would not have wasted their time

any cooking, cleaning, tasks etc etc would have been done after dark when hunting was impossible

[rojash]

Don't know about other women, but my wife can't talk on the phone and deal with anything else at the same time. Example: she's talking to (say) our son on the phone, and I say "don't hang up, I need to speak to him". She'll finish her sentence, hang up the phone, then turn to me and say "what did you say?"

[turboped]

It's true, women can talk when they do anything!

[happy_face]

If my other half is for example changing the batteries in the tv remote (which is a fairly easy task and doesn't require much thinking) I can ask him if he wants a cup of tea and I won't get a response until he's finished what he's doing. Then he'll look at me with a look of "why are you standing there looking at me?"

[druiaghtagh]

Hey Rojash, is your wife related to mine ? !!!

[jno]

of course women multitask... sometimes you even see a woman getting her purse out while simultaneously waiting in the queue at Tescos... handing money to the checkout operator before packing her purchases, so the operator can get the change ready while the buyer packs. If most of them leave it until after they've packed everything, it's just to annoy any men standing behind them, yes?

[joko]

jno - yes but i have seen many men do the same thing... that is not only a female thing

[jno]

perfectly true joko, but then I've never actually heard a male claiming he could multitask, and I'd have a good laugh if I did. Reminds me of Lyndon Johnson saying Gerald Ford was so dumb he couldn't fart and chew gum at the same time.... which, come to think of it, I'm not sure I could do myself, not without stopping to think about it for a split second or so.