Multitasking is the Problem?!

According to a recent New York Times piece, current teenagers multitask, on average, seven tasks at a time. Earlier studies show that people in the 20’s could only handle a maximum of six tasks and in the 30’s they could only handle five. The question that has come up is whether or not this generation is as focused in school and at work compared to their forebears and what will happen as they age. In my opinion, I do not think students are as focused now as they were in the early 1900’s, but multitasking is not related to this theory. Students are not as focused because many of them have been given everything in life. During the early 1900’s people worked much harder for their education, it wasn’t free. Also the statistics of kids with Attention Deficit Disorder has dramatically increased over the years making it harder for students to focus in school. I believe as students will age they will realize that everything in life will not be given to them and they have to work for it. This is why students do not focus in school and work as much, not because they can multitask better than their forebears.