We, fucking Millennials, can't work. We already know about that, there are no doubts. You can't rely on us, not even when we just have to hammer a nail. And what should we do when there are many nails?
Today it's fashionable to require multitasking ability from candidates. What it actually is, almost nobody knows. The idea is that the poor Millennial will be able to write emails and talk on the phone at the same time.
Multitasking became popular thanks to dual-core processors. They didn't hear much about this concept before and did everything properly.
Today's person is supposedly sapiens, but our brain can't concentrate on two things. Physically.
But what's interesting is how multitasking works in computers. De-facto they're similar to us. When I simplify - it does a lot of math during a second. When it has 1000 tasks and can only do 500 per second, it has to prioritize. And ČVUT students who read my blog might know that switching from one task to another - is also a task. This means that it's much more advantageous to do something long-term, then switch and do something else long-term.
However, our computer can handle this relatively quickly. Even so, there are no perfect algorithms that could assess what prioritization is ideal.
The human brain works a bit differently, but the principle is the same.
a) can't do two tasks at once
b) spends energy on switching
There are studies showing that multitasking destroys the brain. And dopamine plays its role again - when we complete some small task, we get a dopamine reward. And we want even more small stupid tasks.
Therefore when you see another job ad where they want multitasking from you - don't forget to send them 2 emails right away that they're assholes-assholes. The result of all multitasking is the same as when you fart and sneeze at the same time. And better not even try this.