Multitasking Teenagers

Most teen-agers multitask because they can and they have  the gadgets to do so.  Yet some neuroscientists are raising red flags that those teenagers may be harming their still developing brains.

Teens Can Multitask, But What Are Costs?
Here's Jordan Grafman, chief of cognitive neuroscience at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

"Introducing multitasking in younger kids in my opinion can be detrimental.  One of the biggest problems about multitasking is that it's almost impossible to gain a depth of knowledge of any of the tasks you do while you're multitasking. And if it becomes normal to do, you'll likely be satisfied with very surface-level investigation and knowledge."

Russell Poldrack, associate professor of psychology at UCLA, who did a study

Multitaskers "may not be building the same knowledge that they would be if they were focusing.  While multitasking makes them feel like they are being more efficient, research suggests that there's very little you can do that involves multitasking that you can be as good at when you're not multitasking."

But researchers don't know for sure.  David Meyer,  director of the Brain, Cognition and Action Laboratory at the University of Michigan. 

"The belief is they're getting good at this and that they're much better than the older generation at it and that there's no cost to their efficiency."

Seems to me, teenagers should learn both multitasking and deep concentration if they really what to prepared for becoming a fully-functioning grown-ups. 

Some jobs, like air traffic controllers, may demand multi-tasking, but others, like surgeons, demand absolute focus.