Reference no: EM133497719

Problem: One of the most important ways you can improve your listening is to limit the amount of time you spend multitasking-especially shifting your attention back and forth between different forms of technology, each of which feeds you unrelated streams of information (Ophir et al., 2012). Stanford psychologist Clifford Nass has found that multitaskers are extremely confident in their ability to perform well on the tasks they juggle (Glenn, 2010). Their confidence, however, is misplaced. Multitaskers perform substantially worse on tasks compared with individuals who focus their attention on only one task at a time (Ophir et al., 2012). Why is limiting multitasking important for improving listening? Because multitasking erodes your capacity for sustaining focused attention (Jackson, 2008). Cognitive scientists discovered that our brains adapt to the tasks we regularly perform, an effect known as brain plasticity (Carr, 2010). In simple terms, we train our brains to be able to do certain things through how we live our daily lives. People who spend too much time shifting attention rapidly between multiple forms of technology train their brains to focus attention only in brief bursts. They lose the ability to focus attention for long periods of time on just one task (Jackson, 2008). Limiting your multitasking and spending at least some time each day focused on just one task (such as reading, listening to music, or engaging in prayer or meditation), with no technological distractions, helps train your brain to sustain attention- and you to listen more effectively. If you were in the presenter's shoes, what attribution would you have made about your behavior? Would you have reacted in the same way?