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Claudia Wallis, The Multitasking Generation

The Multitasking Generation

Claudia Wallis

READING COMPREHENSION QUIZ

Take the quiz below to check your comprehension of the reading selection:

Question 8.12

What is an example that Claudia Wallis gives of multitasking?

Doing homework and instant messaging

Listening to music through headphones and conversing with a friend

Using the computer while reading

All of these

Correct.

Incorrect. The answer is D.

Question 8.13

According to Wallis, how have parents responded to seeing their kids’ multitasking?

With anger and frustration

With confusion and resentment

With awe and concern

With approval and envy

Correct.

Incorrect. The answer is C.

Question 8.14

How does the brain multitask?

By processing different tasks in different regions of the brain at the same time

Only after becoming accustomed to doing so in childhood

With great difficulty, to the detriment of other kinds of skills such as concentration

It doesn’t, at least, not really.

Correct.

Incorrect. The answer is D.

Question 8.15

What kinds of skills or tasks can be practiced and processed simultaneously by the brain?

Rote or automatic skills like walking

Fairly high-order skills like writing or reading

Decisions or tasks that do not take much time

All of these

Correct.

Incorrect. The answer is A.

Question 8.16

What can younger adults do better than older adults that gives the illusion of multitasking?

Pretend to listen

Tune out or block information

Make eye contact

None of these

Correct.

Incorrect. The answer is B.

READING SUMMARY

Question 8.17

In a sentence or two, summarize the main idea of Wallis’s “The Multitasking Generation.” Be sure to put the summary in your own words and to avoid using the sentence structure of the reading selection. Consider multimodal elements (if any) as well as text. Remember that your summary should restate the selection’s main idea and that it should include only the most important supporting ideas.

Below is an example summary of this reading selection: While many teenagers believe they can effectively do things like homework, texting, and listening to music all at the same time, Claudia Wallis argues that, based on current scientific understanding of the brain, this kind of multitasking is a myth. When we try to do any but the most rote tasks simultaneously, we are less effective than when we concentrate on one task at a time. Your summary will differ from this one in the way it is written, but it should include roughly the same information.

VOCABULARY QUIZ

Explain the meaning of each of the following words as it is used in the reading:

Question 8.18

Simultaneously (par. 14)

Simultaneously means at the same time or concurrently.

Question 8.19

Prowess (par. 15)

Prowess means skill or ability.

Question 8.20

Compulsive (par. 15)

Compulsive means obsessive or uncontrollable.