September 22nd, 2008

News flash: Doing something that requires your attention reduces your ability to do other things at the same time which also require your attention

The New York Times points out that if you engage in an activity that requires your attention, then it reduces your ability to do other things at the same time which also require your attention. For some reason, however this is news when one of those things is sending text messages.

I wonder if, had contemporary news editors existed back in the days when books were invented, they would have published big scary articles expounding on the dangers of reading a book while riding a horse or chopping firewood.

Author

Raymond has been involved in the evolution of Windows for more than 30 years. In 2003, he began a Web site known as The Old New Thing which has grown in popularity far beyond his wildest imagination, a development which still gives him the heebie-jeebies. The Web site spawned a book, coincidentally also titled The Old New Thing (Addison Wesley 2007). He occasionally appears on the Windows Dev Docs Twitter account to tell stories which convey no useful information.

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