I was raised in a culture where the parents expected their children to be “concentrated” in their work. At meal time, we should focus on eating and no talking; at homework time, we should focus on “doing homework” and no distraction from TV shows. It is more than the pragmatic concern of not delivering quality when we are distracted, it is more the courtesy and respect to the people around and to the tasks at hand.
How many jobs out there have put in their description on “ability to multi-task” and “ability to manage parallel projects” and “manage conflicts”?
Is Multi-Tasking a good thing or bad? What would be the result of such a poll?
Here is my scoop
– in terms of mannerism, it is bad, we are now getting used to talking to people who are doing something else on the smart devices
– in terms of the effectiveness to the task at hand, well, it is not a problem; I have seen many who can use different parts of the brain at the same time, our 5 senses can be used at the same time, why not working intellectual stuff and trivial stuff at the same time; or why not read book while watching TV; it makes no apparent difference for most tasks that are not mission critical.
– in terms of comfort level – what would you think if a pilot driving planes while reading a book; or a driver in a self-driven car playing a musical instrument?
I suspect the multi-tasking requirement in job description is the corporate intent of getting more from the working hours of the employees. Isn’t it better to have employees working 5 projects than 1 project at the same time, with same pay?
That said, I have a small belief that people, who multi-task well, could plan better, more adaptable, fast-paced, and learn quick. Those are all very useful qualities in today’s market, aren’t they?
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/38067053/about%20multitask%20-%20trial.mp3
oliviatamccue 
multi-tasking indeed is almost a must have in any recruitment requirements – at the same time, i think the terminology could be deceiving: if we put any section of time under microscope, I believe at any one point, a person is only working /dealing with one thing. Muiti-tasking to me stands for one’s ability to manange multiple tasks at the same time with appropriate prioritization so that things are being done according to the needs according to due dates. I read about a small test in Readers’ Digest which can give this some insight : time yourself in writing a-z in one go, followed by 1- 26, then time yourself by writing alphebats and numbers in alternative i.e. 1, a, 2, b, 3, c …. 26, z. The result is interesting and give us all somehting to think over.