Short version of this interesting article in The Atlantic: Do one thing at a time. Avoid multitasking. Technology that enables multitasking is bad; technology that encourages multitasking is horrid.

I can’t say that I can argue with the premise, especially with the neuroscience–I’m just not qualified to take that on. But my gut feeling is that what he calls the evils of multitasking is what I experience at the end of a day where I say to myself, “I was so busy today; how is it that I got so little done?”

That said, as a card-carrying technological utopian (and the card isn’t made of antediluvian paper, nosirree), I can think of several times when multitasking is not only beneficial, it is right and proper. Listening to a podcast or good music while walking long distances. Putting on just the right mix when watching the stars, the ocean, or just the world passing by. A little distraction when a poker game isn’t going quite the way you want it to, and to focus your entire attention on it will be to play badly.

I recently picked up a Palm Centro smartphone, about which I’ve been intending to write an extensive review for a month–but I’ll say in passing that the way in which it wormed its way into my life so quickly was precisely the ability it provides to grab snippets of the Internet while doing something else. An opponent asked me last night when the minting dates were of my Morgan dollar card protector; I found them out (1878-1904, and 1921) while grabbing a smoke break. That’s information I want to know, but wouldn’t have made a note to track down hours later.

Maybe it denied me the full enjoyment of that nicotine hit. Somehow, I doubt it.