Essay Response 1

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Essay Response 1

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In the chapter "You Will Never Learn," Annie Murphy Paul talks about the research conducted on students who do multitasking while studying. It is a research-based on how media multitasking affects their cognition while learning and how it makes their learning shallower. The results of giving full attention while working or studying are far better than working with less attention. It not only affects the quality of their work but also affects their mental ability to grasp new ideas. According to the research, 80 percent of the students use mobile phones while studying. Students, while working on important homework, lose their "on-task behavior," and their attention starts to drift towards other things. Annie gives the reference to a survey which states that the habit of multitasking starts at the age of 8. In another research conducted by St. John’s University, 58% of 2nd and 3rd-year students use laptops for "non-class purpose," which is for their own pleasure . Parents, however, can play an important role in controlling their kids from doing multitasking and can draw a line when it’s about their studies and homework.

The issue that has been discussed by Paul is very relatable to the activities I do on a daily basis because, as a college student, I too get involved in multitasking while studying. Whenever there is an important task or an assignment, I never finish it on time because of spending extra time on activities like texting and watching videos on YouTube. This not only affects the quality of my assignment but also affects my mental health. My grades have been falling because of spending extra and unnecessary time on mobile phones, and not only this, it also makes me lethargic, which is not good for my health. I usually forget the things I was working on because my attention has constantly been divided, among other activities. People of my age are most likely to have the same routine and same habits, and I have seen my friends doing multitasking. They do texting during the class or watch videos while doing their classwork. The kids especially are affected by this multitasking as they are introduced to new technology which they find amusing.

The opposing or differing aspects of this article are that not all who do multitasking have problems because some can maintain the quality of their work while multitasking. According to research conducted by Russell Poldrack, some of the students were asked to count musical tones while doing work on computers. Many of them were able to perform it without compromising their level of learning because the brain can control their distraction would not allow drifting their attention. On the other hand, they can also perform challenging tasks at once and can save time. This multitasking makes students t do all the tasks at the same, which is an active exercise because their mind or brains remain active during this process, and it optimizes several search engines of the brain. This drifting from one work to another can also stimulate the creativity of students.

The most important strategy of the writer is her “captivating writing style." She starts her article with facts and has given detailed description on researches conducted on students. So, this makes the opening paragraph of the article interesting and attractive. The tone she has used is based on sincerity and is very inspiring, which compels readers not to skip a single paragraph of the article. Another strategy the writer has used is how she has targeted a specific audience and has provided facts about the targeted audience, which is youth. This is an informative article based on different researches and it is meant to spread awareness about multitasking.