Our minds move considerably faster than the outside world. You can hear far more words a minute than someone else can speak. We have so much to do, why waste any time? While you're on the phone listening to someone, why not use that extra brainpower to book a trip to Florence?
What we neglect to realize is that we're already using that brainpower to pick up nuance, think about what we're hearing access our creativity, and stay connected to what's happening around us. What we neglect to realize is that it's not extra brainpower. It may be imperceptible, but it's all being used, right then and there, in the moment. And diverting it has negative consequences.All of us can probably recognize the following experience: you're talking to someone on the phone, and you suddenly realize that he is checking his email or browsing a webpage or doing something else. How do you know? Because he stops responding normally (e.g., he says "yeah" or "right" at the wrong times or with too much delay). Whoever you're talking to probably thinks that he can multitask just fine, but you know otherwise, because the conversation suddenly feels like it's going nowhere.
If you can tell when someone else is multitasking during a conversation, it's probably a good idea not to try it yourself.
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