The Myth of Multitasking

 "There's a temptation to multitask everything, but you can't multitask presence"

---Cindy Crawford

I love it when a supermodel can also speak coherently and wisely. It keeps me from hating them and their perfect bodies, great hair, and cute boyfriends. Multitasking seems to be this standard that has been set as if it's the goal, the brass ring, the one talent we all need. It will solve every problem and allow us to overcome any obstacle. We just have to do more, all at once if possible, and there you have it, success on every level.

OK, are we done laughing yet?

No one can pay attention to everything around them; some things are going to get ignored. Not a problem for me; I can ignore stuff better than most. One look at my kitchen sink and the disorderly bookshelves in my living room will tell you that. Multitasking is how many people cope with a very busy schedule. Sometimes, there simply isn't time to get everything done if they only work on one thing at a time. To a certain extent, we all multitask. Lots of people walk around the house straightening up the clutter while talking on the phone and getting dinner ready, right? I mean, I've never done that, but I hear it happens. So, sure, it's possible. But is it really what we should be doing, in all areas of our lives?

Say you're driving down the street, the radio in your car is on, maybe a kid is singing "Baby Shark" or some other vocal torture is happening. There's traffic because other people have the nerve to be out when you're out. Your GPS is pinging because you missed a turn, and you decide that this is a good time to answer a text from your boss about the cover sheets on your TPS reports. Why would anyone do this? What is the benefit? If you text and drive, it's eventually going to go very badly for you, and perhaps others as well. Why is it that multitasking is so prevalent in cars? Everyone is in their car like it's some bubble of safety, where nothing bad can happen. Right. What could possibly go wrong in a 3,000-pound piece of machinery, hurtling down the road at 35 mph, while the driver sends a text, takes a call, drinks coffee, and touches up their lipstick in the rearview?

So OK, we shouldn't multitask while driving, got it. What about while working? Honestly, I know lots of highly productive people, and they are the ones that have 57 tabs open on their computer, while in a meeting, delivering a PowerPoint presentation, and probably knitting hats for babies while they're at it. I envy this ability. It just seems so efficient, but, neurologically, it's really not.

There's research, once again, we need to believe the science. Most people are not actually multitasking, at least as far as what's happening in their brains. When you do one thing, that you know how to do, it's learned memory, and your brain recalls it. We all know how to put the key in the ignition and start the car, followed by snapping on the seatbelt and looking in the rearview mirror. Our brains have learned that, but it needs to be recalled each time. This takes mere nanoseconds, but it has to happen.

The work we have to do to learn something new, however, is also a drain on brain function, so while you're getting ready to back out of the driveway, you really cannot be processing the news on the radio or the latest school drama from your kid. There's only so much that can happen at the same time inside your noggin. When you multitask, your brain isn't doing double duty. It's switching back and forth, from one task to another, this to that and back again, like a rabbit on Red Bull. Neither task gets the full bandwidth though; something will always be lost.

The same is true about being present for important moments, it's just way less scientific. If you're at your kid's school play, that you've never seen, but you're shooting a few emails to your boss, making a shopping list, and scoring some points on Words With Friends, you will miss the dialogue, miss your kid's entrance, and so what if it's on video, it's not the same. Why even go, if you're not soaking up and enjoying what you came for? How do I know this? I have, at times, been that phone-addicted person, been that multitasking hot mess wannabe who just needs to get this one last text sent, check on that one email. Guess what? I missed out. The fun moments, silly kid comments, the last three steps at the train station, all big misses. Trust me, all of that hurts. Stay present, stay engaged, because multitasking is about quantity, and right now, quality matters more. The to-do list will keep. The one-of-a-kind moments will not.

Photographs and Memories

 “There is one thing the photograph must contain, the humanity of the moment.”

— Robert Frank

I have a love hate relationship with photography. In high school and college, I practically went broke on film, cameras, and darkroom equipment. The garage in our house was turned into a photo lab and I spent hours developing film, hanging negatives, “dodging” black and white prints under my enlarger, and framing shots that I thought were artistic, but were mostly tree branches with snow and trees with no leaves. All without a computer. There was no PhotoShop, no Instagram filters, and definitely no retakes of forty or fifty shots to get the perfect “selfie.” It was an accomplishment if I managed to set the self-timer on my beloved Canon AE-1, and then make it into the frame before it went off. There are more than a few family pictures where my parents and brother are smiling and posed, but off to the side is a random blur of red hair and an arm or shoulder racing to be included. 

My father was the original amateur photographer, but to hear him tell it, he was the next Ansel Adams. He bought a Polaroid Land 100, the very week it came out and he was almost never without it. That his Bell and Howell Super8 movie camera documented my childhood. Back then, I wanted to be in every picture, but that changed when I hit the awkward years, which, to be honest, continue to this day. My comfort level was behind the camera, never in front of it. 

These days I rarely want to be the one in the picture, and will try to find any way possible to stand behind someone else, or at least suck in all my bits, and place a book or an unsuspecting pet over anything that can’t be contained. Recently, however, I met local photographer Fred Marco and we got to talking about photos, self-esteem, and how it should be about capturing moments and memories, rather than causing an existential hair crisis. Fred had photographed my daughter, for her senior pictures, so I knew he was proficient, but of course, Devin is eighteen and gorgeous, and I am…older and not. Fred said it didn’t matter, that his approach was to bring out what is unique and wonderful about all of his subjects. I couldn’t imagine how he was going to capture sarcasm and a snarky attitude on film, but another friend offered us the use of his beautiful Edsel (I will never understand how those cars didn’t catch on) and the fall colors were blooming, so why not? Besides, the tail fins on an Edsel can hide anything. A date was set, the weather cooperated and in the high school parking lot, on a sunny Saturday afternoon, it was like a shoot for Vogue. Well, not really, since I am no cover girl, but still, it was quite something.

Here’s the thing about good photographers. They know their cameras and equipment. They understand about lighting, about posing and how to get the best results. They understand f stops and apertures. A good photographer has all that down pat. There is a technical part of talent, but the most important part of photographing people is about understanding who the subject is, aside from appearances and size and, in my case, an inside voice that is screaming, “Jeeez, he’s gonna need a wide angle lens and boat tarp for this unless he shoots me from the nose up!” Fred was nothing short of amazing, considering he was dealing with a fifty-something neurotic mess who had to borrow clothes from a much more stylish friend (thank you Katy, you’re a lifesaver, as always.) I couldn’t tell you what kind of camera he had, or what lens he used, or how he decided which shots to take from where, but I will never forget how he managed to make me laugh, smile, pose, and actually have fun. That, my friends, is talent. Getting me, an expert in the art of gut sucking and hiding behind furniture, to perch precariously on the bumper of a classic car, in heels, without looking like something was stuck up my nose, is an accomplishment that only the best and the bravest of photographers can achieve, and Fred managed it, while cracking jokes and putting me at ease. 

Fred showed me that posing for a photo doesn’t have to trigger an urge to pull a bag over my head or duck behind a tree. He figured out what would work, and while some of it was technical, most of it was artistic talent and an understanding that, for some of us, being in front of a lens can be way harder than being behind one. If photographs are supposed to be about moments and memories, these photos did that and more. It’s a new year, and while it might not mean there is a new me, working with Fred Marco gave me a new attitude. For one sunny afternoon, I felt like a super model instead of merely supersized. Check him out at https://www.fredmarcophotography.com/