There are articles all over the place that claim "kids these days" are particularly infected with a bug that makes them multitask. Here is another example from self-proclaimed millennial Isvari Mohan in commentary in yesterday's Boston Globe, Multitasking millennials are costing us billions
Are you listening to music while reading this article? Are you supposedly working at the same time? Are you planning to skim read and drop off by the second paragraph?
Well, STOP IT.
One of the major problems with millennials is that we are notorious multitaskers and are terrible at focusing on individual projects, costing the economy as a result.
I was fine with the text until it started to claim that millennials are "notorious" multitaskers. People are notorious multitaskers. I see my mother respond to every ding and jingle of her phone or iPad. And my kids. And me. And many others.
How do you change this? You teach people. You coach them. You create an environment that actively seeks to discourage multitasking. Don't give people a ton of things to do. Help them finish what they have before dropping more on them. Stop expecting them to respond to every requestion. Expect people to focus and finish instead.