Viewpoint: Easy Does It

Ah, finally some good news! I’m not just referring to the sigh of relief brought about by press reports that the advertising market is improving, slightly. No, what I just read provides a more visceral, down-in-your-gut, slightly selfish sense of satisfaction.

A new study from Stanford University reveals that multitaskers actually perform badly in a variety of tasks! Isn’t that a scrumptious tidbit? Have you, like me, always felt inadequate next to that whiz kid who can work at a computer, while checking e-mails and carrying on an important phone conversation?

I grew up with the “first things first” and “focusing carefully on the task at hand” golden rules. Well, turns out my teachers and parents were right. As Stanford University researchers show, multitaskers are easily distracted, less able to shift from one task to another and can’t organize information well. Yes, there is divine justice! We older folks, as we methodically take the time we feel is required to do one job well, need not feel we should be put out to pasture prematurely while younger generations speed along doing five tasks at once—we’ve been doing it right all along!

But, and there is a big but here, if you look around you’ll see children and young adults obsessively multitasking. Have you not witnessed this? A child or teen or Generation Xer working at the computer, IMing several friends at once, listening to music or watching TV, all while texting on their cell phones. The awe this type of scene inspires quickly gives way to dread as you wonder, what are these kids doing? One TV executive I spoke to wants to believe his daughter is building a skill set that will turn out to be indispensable later in life. Well, according to those researchers at Stanford, that might not be the case. What is the case, however, is that children and adults are being pulled to several different screens and devices for work, communication and sources of news and entertainment. As I am writing this, the e-mail icon on the lower portion of my computer screen is indicating I have new e-mails waiting to be read, another icon is flashing an instant message through Gmail from my son and my cell phone is beeping a news alert from CNN.

Those are the screens vying for our attention as we work; there is a different set in our leisure time. New fall TV seasons have begun in many countries. It’s not possible to watch all our favorite shows as they air, so we can record them or catch them online, or find them on iTunes or Hulu. It’s all quite overwhelming, but at least we are in control and choose what to watch when we want to. Viewers have taken control and advertisers are following our lead. In fact, as data from Veronis Suhler Stevenson (VSS) shows, advertising continues to move from traditional media, such as newspapers, radio and television, to “alternative media” like the Internet, cable television and branded entertainment, with product placement and event sponsorship. The media industry will have to deal with the long-term effects of these tectonic shifts. But a growing number of analysts believe that the necessary restructuring traditional media companies will have to undergo will place them ahead of new-media companies. In other words, if conventional media can take advantage of strong brands, appealing content and wide distribution, they can come out on top in the digital world. That’s the long-term good news.

There is also short-term good news. Maurice Lévy, the head of Publicis Groupe, the number two advertising agency in the world, believes the second quarter was the lowest point of the advertising downturn. Barron’s points to positive signs supporting this claim: Procter & Gamble will increase spending on its brands. Yahoo! has earmarked $75 million to promote itself. Microsoft will spend $100 million to promote Bing, the rival search engine to Google. And in the broadcast world, let’s not forget that next year there will be the Winter Olympics in February and the FIFA World Cup in June—both bound to stimulate ad spending.

And if we need more reasons to feel better, just remember: multitasking—not so special after all. So sit down, take a break from a lifestyle that has become way more hectic than you’d like, and read our content. But do me a favor, do it without any distractions.