Multithreaded brain : How do you handle it?

Question

Long time ago, i read an article dealing with how women's brain was good at multi task compared to men's one.

Now I often think about it. As far as I have noticed, I can do several things at the same time (almost) because of a good scheduling.

I was wondering how you guys do, what are some of the hard things you can do at the same time as other (and maybe some tips to improve).

For example, I can think about some code I'm on while washing the dishes, this one is easy I admit. What I can't do is having a logical phone conversation (with other answers than just "yes" or "no") while coding.

How about you?!

Answer 1

I can't multitask in my brain unless I'm doing trivial things, when I do reasonably complicated things that require some effort, I use all my brain for that particular task, so much that, often I don't hear others talking to me (I guess you all know that feeling).

But for trivial things (like designing a visual interface or witting some mappings) I can listen to a podcast while doing them ...

I don't know how women multitask in their brain, but I sure can't do it except for the most trivial repetitive tasks that have become an almost reflex.

Answer 2

I think the key to multithreaded thinking is evaluating wether you're giving a timeslot to things or not. Therefore its good to always have a cache with you. For me thats a small moleskine with a pen attached. :-) Because the things that get your out of multithreading are those little things that you could simply write down (to the cache) and process later.

Answer 3

When it comes to productivity best advice would be don't multi task, it just doesn't work. I've read so much about it that multi tasking is bad. There are so many articles about it, you can find. Also my personal experience approves that.

However there are stuff such as dish washing, watching a stupid TV show, taking a shower where you can multi task and think about coding or design quite productively.

Beware of multi tasking while listening your girlfriend's shopping adventures. You need to allocate a small amount memory for the last 3 sentences. So you when she asks you can switch back to world, recall one of those and answer the question sensibly :)

Answer 4

Long time ago, i read an article dealing with how women's brain was good at multi task compared to men's one.

I'd be wary of any such claims. At best, they are grossly simplifying and misleading in their implications. At worst, they are simply wrong.

Basically, all claims that use biology in conjunction with a categorisation into men/women, blacks/whites, fee/fi/foo/fum are bogus and bad science because they correlate arbitrary features and claim to show a nonexistent trend. And they are usually the means to political(ly incorrect) ends.

(Yes, I know this question was tagged “humor” but too many people actually believe such claims.)

Answer 5

Yes, as you mention, women's brains are better at multitasking.

My girlfriend is mostly unhappy with the fact that I often enter deadlock whenever I try to do things at once; this leads to me saying "huh?" when she just asked me a question, which she for some reason thinks means that I'm not paying attention to her. But it's not my fault; I just need an OS upgrade.