Men

[doh!]

Why can't most men multi-task - i.e read & talk, write & talkk etc?

[answerbok]

agree with Einstein, they can.. and do, when it suits. - bit like saying 'why can't they wash up?' or sew. :-)

[docklands77]

Women just think they can but in practice, they can't!!!!

[treaclefight]

lol at docklands, as a (female) ex multi-tasker, i too used to wonder why men couldnt cook dinner, clean the kitchen and sort the laundry out while holding a baby and doing older kids homework with them coz i was doing all of it all day every day. a change of man helped that particular situation. the new man is just as single minded and focussed on one thing at a time, but he manages to get everything done. i am now a convert to this method of doing one thing and doing justice to it before moving on to the next thing, it is a much less stressful way of life. it involves a selfishness that doesnt come naturally to most women, especially mothers, but it can be learned :-D

[sft42]

Generalisation it may be but it's true in a large proportion of the populace....men focus better on one task at a time and generally make a netter job of it, and more often women can do an adaquate job of three or four things at once......these old stereotypes seem to be crumbling away and the sooner the better.

[5029]

I remember reading that in a study done on the subject, women were found to be better at multitasking, but men were found to be better at doing one single thing at a time. eg if there was one thing to be done, the man would complete the task better than a woman, but if there was more than one thing to be done, a woman would do it better

[WaldoMcFroog]

5029 is correct. In general terms, you would expect women to be better at multi-tasking than men. There's a very simple reason for this. Women have 5 language centres in the brains, men only one. This means that a woman can track up to 5 different sources of input similtaneusly. A man cannot, which is why when a man is watching TV and the phone rings, he'll turn it down. This also means that men are far more likely to be single minded about things - try interupting a man halfway through him making a point and it will frustrate him. A woman can leave that point, pick up another one and return to the first without losing where she was. Try the book 'Why men lie and women can't read maps' for more information on this subject.

[jorton]

A much more important,but related, question is why can't kippers multi-task? I have long been baffled by this inexplicable phenomenon

[strozzi]

Most men can multitask. If women could multitask then they would take books to the toilet too.

[StevieBoy]

There's a truly great book called "why men don't listen and women can't read maps" by Barbara and Allan Pease. I think thats what Waldo was off about. Tells you how they tick