The Myth Of Multitasking

I'm confident in my driving abilities, or about as confident as anyone could be, and I have been known to do my share of multitasking in my life. I'm a father, so as you'd expect, I'd have to be fairly good at handling two or more things at one time. But lately I have needed to call certain abilities into question; not just mine, but everyone's.

It began on the last day of the 2013 I&E in Atlantic City. Having listened to the keynote speech from National Safety Council President and CEO Janet Froetscher, and having seen the data she presented on the subject of distracted driving, I was sold. Modern technology is a powerful tool when used correctly. Ask anyone I know what my iPhone means to me and you'll get a fairly impassioned secondhand sales pitch for Apple and its products, but phones and driving don't mix.

As if I needed more convincing, on March 29 I invited NAFA Affiliate and longtime Association supporter Phil Moser, Vice President of Advanced Driver Training Services, to provide the entire staff with the One Day Driver Skill Enhancement Course. It was an eye-opening day, to say the least. We had the discussion and data. We had the road test at a nearby parking lot -- the things anyone might have expected from a course like this. But Phil had a demonstration planned that honestly blew me away, and it is one I want to share with you because it could be very useful, especially if you have family members that drive and love their phones (as I do).

Here's the set-up: Phil took out a deck of cards and shuffled them, making sure that they were properly mixed up. (Deputy Executive Director) Patrick McCarren set up a stop clock to time what was about to happen. I was handed the cards and on the word "go" I was to separate all the suits -- diamonds with diamonds, clubs with clubs, and so on. I thought I did pretty well the first time around, separating the deck into four piles in 36.5 seconds.

The second time around was an altogether different beast. I was still being timed, still had to break the deck into the separate suits, but this time Phil was asking me about where I live, the names of my kids, who was youngest, who was the oldest...the innocuous kinds of questions one might have while chatting away on a phone. The end result: it took me more than a minute (double my original time) to finish the task, and I even flubbed some of my answers. Mind you, these are things I know by heart.

If I needed yet another reason to shut the phone off before I start the car, this one did it, because as confident as I was going into this test, I was equally humbled at the end of it. Multitasking is an illusion because we actually don't do two, three, or more things at one time. We snap between these tasks, and the circumstances surrounding them are usually so contained, these switches look seamless. I had no idea my performance would be so interrupted by nothing more than someone asking me a handful of relatively easy questions.

In other words, phones and driving do not mix. When you take your phone conversation with you while driving, you're doing the exact same thing, splitting your attention when all your focus should be on the road. So keep this exercise in mind, try it out on your friends and loved ones. Better that they get the message in the safety of a room with a deck of cards than in the middle of traffic.

Sincerely,

Phil

NAFA Fleet Management Association
125 Village Blvd., Suite 200
Princeton, NJ 08540

Telephone: 609.720.0882 Fax: 609.452.8004