Monday, April 25, 2016

Mommy is not an octopus

When my son - usually in a fit of excitement - asks me to do too many things at once, I remind him that I am not an octopus. Although I can see the initial appeal of having eight arms for cooking dinner, dancing with him in the kitchen and going through the 5-7 leaflets in his school binder, I wonder if eight arms would actually be enough. Also: Would it really be eight arms? Or, are two of those arms actually considered legs, and it is really six arms and two appendages used for mobility?

I digress.

The point is that even though we have all learned to become multi-taskers, very few of us are good at it. Yes, I realize you think you are good at it, because you feel productive, but that's the point: You only feel more productive, you actually aren't.

The good news is that if we insist on being multi-taskers - especially with our screentime - science has found a way to help us. (Thanks, science!) The secret is: Breathing.

OK. Fine. The real secret is small periods of meditation that require you to count your breaths before diving into multiple screens, but let's just call it breathing for short.

So, there you go. If you want to watch a movie, text a friend and read an article all at the same time, stop and count your breaths first.

How many screens do you normally use at one time? Leave your magic number in the comments.

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