The impact of multi-tasking

I am noticing often at the moment as I walk out on the streets of London that I find myself muttering about how so many people are ‘multi-tasking’. They have earphones on (so are presumably listening to music or radio or maybe having a phone conversation), they are carrying a cup of coffee, they are pushing a pram with a child that they may or may not be talking to, they are texting or emailing one-handed (the other hand from the coffee cup), they are getting on the bus using their Oyster card, they have bundles of shopping or brief cases, they have a newspaper under their arm…

They don’t hear another pedestrian walking up behind them. They don’t seem to notice that they are taking up the whole of the pavement and the person walking towards them is on crutches. They don’t hear or see the car as they walk over the pedestrian crossing, but just carry on, apparently oblivious.

Perhaps I am being curmudgeonly and ungenerous in appreciating the capacity of humans to do so many things all at once, but I am really struck by the contrast that the coaching or supervision space then offers: no phones, no distractions, just one other person being present and listening. It creates a container for the client to sit still, slow down, breathe and re-charge their batteries, before they go out and enter this frenetic world again.

Photo: Infomastern