1-6 Assignment Writing Notes
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Feb 20, 2024
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1-6 Assignment: Writing Notes
Vincent K. Cooper
Department of English, Southern New Hampshire University
Eng-122-Q3505 English Composition I 22EW5
April 27, 2022
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1-6 Assignment: Writing Notes
In the article “The High Price of Multitasking,” author Daniel Willingham’s objective is to express the dangers of multitasking, primarily when driving. Willingham’s other purpose is to provide his audience with an alternative to multitasking as well as ways to minimize the dangers when multitasking while driving. The author pursues this by providing facts about multitasking and advice on how to multitask less, especially while driving. He uses studies and surveys to effectively provide credible proof about the dangers of multitasking.
Willingham’s key points within the article included an experiment in which subjects were
asked to view a pair consisting of one digit and one letter: for example, “A1”. Then, a signal was used to instruct people to identity the letter as a nonvowel or vowel or the digital as either even or odd. After the subject’s response, a new stimulus and a new signal would appear. When the task switched, the subject’s response time was about 20 percent lower than when it was repeated because switching requires extra steps. These extra steps are resetting your goal and reloading the mental rule. This proved that multitasking causes a slower reaction time, and this can be very
dangerous when operating something like a vehicle where your reaction time can save your life or someone else’s. Another key-point Willingham mentions in his article is a 2015 survey which showed that most students who use social media, text, or watch TV while studying think they can
still understand the coursework they’re studying. This supportive evidence shows that although it
is known that multitasking lowers your performance, people still do it thinking they are better than they actually are at multitasking. The third key-point that the author mentions is the trade-
off of cognition and emotion like when someone plays music while studying even though you perform better without any music or other distractions. He explains how people multitask mainly
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1-6 Assignment: Writing Notes
because they only see the benefits from it like listening to music to keep themselves from being bored.
Willingham’s primary audience is the readers of the New York Times since that is where the article was published. The author’s audience also extends to anyone who might be interested in learning more about the effects of multitasking as well as anyone who multitasks in situations where they shouldn’t like studying or more importantly, driving. The challenges I can see the author facing when addressing their purpose with this audience is getting them to take multitasking while doing other important things besides driving since, that was his main focus. I believe his message can extend to people who might multitask while working or reading over important information like medical records or information written down by their doctor.
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