Why you need to avoid texting while multi-tasking

"I'm sorry can you repeat what you just said, I was reading a text message." If you have ever been at the receiving end of this statement, you know the frustration that is caused by a person that is addicted to text messaging. These individuals are often the people that can be caught texting on a date or responding to a text while they are operating a vehicle.

While text messaging does have it's pros, people often abuse it and use it in situations that are inappropriate. Texting during the middle of your minister sermon is definitely not appropriate. Texting during school and on a date are also major "no-no's." Teens today are so addicted to their cell phones that they do not have time to truly focus on anything else. They are too worried about what their friends are up to instead of completing their homework for AP Calculus. While many of us are great multitaskers, text messaging is the exception. Your brain needs to focus on reading the message and then responding to it. If you are trying to drive at the same time, you are not going to have enough brain cells available to properly focus on both activities.

Quit doing everything at once and spend time focusing on each activity individually. When you need to work on your homework, turn off your phone or just shut off the alerts and place it in a drawer until you are done. Several studies are being done on cell phones, texting, instant messaging, and other types of communication and how they interfere with other activities. So far all of the research has found that individuals that engage in too many things at the same time often have problems with performance. Their grades suffer, their employers suffer, and sometimes other people will suffer because of their addiction to text messaging.

It is almost impossible to concentrate on the start to finish of one task when you are working on 3. While you may look at multitasking as a skill, it can actually be more of a deterrent. Our brain needs to take things one step at a time in order to accomplish them to the best of our abilities. If you are spending 30 minutes on a research paper and you are interrupted 15 times by text messages, your brain will not be able to get into the right "zone" you need to be in to write a good paper. Your brain will constantly be forced to get back into the right thought process, which takes extra time and effort on your part and it can cause you to be slower and less productive.

A rule of thumb with cell phones and driving, just don't do it. If you need both your hands to operate something (which should be the case with driving) your brain needs to be in on it too! If you get a call or a text message, wait until you can pull over to read it or have someone else in the car read it for you and respond. This is the safest thing you can do for yourself, your passengers, and the other drivers on the road.

Take a look at the situation you are in and how you would feel if the person you were with kept checking their phone and was sending off message after message. If you would feel neglected, that is how the other person you are doing this to will feel. The people you are with deserve to have your complete attention. You wouldn't send a text message during a job interview, so what makes it okay to send a text message during a date?