Multitasking Makes Us Stupid and Slow

by metavalent

A rare, but worthwhile Slashdot pass-through, here, to November 2007 Atlantic Monthly’s The Autumn of the Multitaskers, which begins:<blockquote>Neuroscience is confirming what we all suspect: Multitasking is dumbing us down and driving us crazy. One man’s odyssey through the nightmare of infinite connectivity. – Walter Kirn</blockquote>To my mind, this is interesting in the context of enhancing our brains. Should we play to our strengths and enhance THOSE, or branch out and make multi-tasking actually possible? In either case, why or why not?