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Short Stuff: Turning Down the Radio When You're Lost · Stuff You Should Know

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  Speaker 1: Hey, everybody, get this the Stuff You Should Know book
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  Speaker 1: that's coming out this fall, The Incomplete Compendium of mostly
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  Speaker 1: So go, Hey, you welcome to the Short Stuff. I'm Josh.
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  Speaker 1: There's Chuck. There's Jerry. This is Short Stuff. I'm Josh.
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  Speaker 1: Jerry's over there, there's Chuck. Let's go car radios killers.
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  Speaker 1: I know this is so I have to say this
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  Speaker 1: article was like pretty great. It's, um, it's a how
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  Speaker 1: stuff works article and it's why do we turn down
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  Speaker 1: the radio when we're lost? And it was like it's
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  Speaker 1: got that kind of classic how stuff work sheen where
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  Speaker 1: it's like, well, here's the simple answer, but let me
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  Speaker 1: find all this other stuff that has to do with
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  Speaker 1: this that makes it that much more interesting, you know. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: it's also kind of funny to look back to the
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  Speaker 1: nineteen thirties and realize that their cell phone was the
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  Speaker 1: car radio and they were just as worried that it
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  Speaker 1: was going to kill people driving. Yes, right, So like
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  Speaker 1: there's this question like, are we every time we're worried
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  Speaker 1: about some new technologies the same thing as when people
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  Speaker 1: before us worried about technology that proved to be totally safe,
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  Speaker 1: or will we eventually hit some some technology that were like, oh,
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  Speaker 1: actually no, this one doesn't qualify. It's actually way worse
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  Speaker 1: than everything else. And will it be radios again, maybe
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  Speaker 1: they'll have another shot at being dangerous. Who knows that's right. Well,
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  Speaker 1: in the early thirties they were so worried about it.
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  Speaker 1: They some states find people who put cars in their radios.
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  Speaker 1: And it wasn't until about eight years after nineteen thirty
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  Speaker 1: nine years that they actually did some real studies the
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  Speaker 1: Princeton Radio Research Project. They said, you know what, it's
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  Speaker 1: not a big deal to listen to a radio in
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  Speaker 1: your car. If anyone cares what we think, then that
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  Speaker 1: sounds like our current times, where it's like this is dangerous,
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  Speaker 1: this is dangerous, we should come up with some laws
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  Speaker 1: to protect ourselves against this. And then finally we're like, oh,
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  Speaker 1: let's actually study it and find out a little bit.
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  Speaker 1: And then now it's it's actually fine. So, Um, so
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  Speaker 1: the radios were deemed safe, right, Uh, they were deemed
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  Speaker 1: to not play a role in car accidents specifically. But
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  Speaker 1: the question is this so? So at some point the
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  Speaker 1: Society of Automotive Engineers basically said, hey, we've got this
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  Speaker 1: figured out. As long as you're not distracted for more
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  Speaker 1: than fifteen seconds while you're driving, you're gonna be just fine.
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  Speaker 1: Which is that's just totally untrue, right of course, everybody,
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  Speaker 1: every anyone knows that these days, um that that fifteen
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  Speaker 1: seconds is like a death sentence basically in a car.
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  Speaker 1: But did they did they sign off on radios under
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  Speaker 1: that fifteen second rule? I don't know. I think they
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  Speaker 1: have now whittled that down to two seconds because they
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  Speaker 1: realized that driving three football fields without paying attention is
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  Speaker 1: actually quite dangerous, no matter what you're listening to, right exactly, So,
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  Speaker 1: I guess a car drives at fifty five miles an hour,
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  Speaker 1: drives about a football field every five seconds, So, yeah,
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  Speaker 1: fifteen seconds, you can get into a lot of trouble
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  Speaker 1: even at fifty five Yeah too, I mean two seconds,
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  Speaker 1: that seems about right, because even though you shouldn't be
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  Speaker 1: distracted at all, everyone is I mean, there are things
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  Speaker 1: going on that you can't help but be distracted by sometimes.
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  Speaker 1: Did you ever take any of those like UM insurance
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  Speaker 1: reduction slash d U y schools? No classes? Did you ever?
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  Speaker 1: You didn't do that? I went to that, never for
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  Speaker 1: do UI or anything like that. But UM, like you
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  Speaker 1: could get like a discount on your insurance if you
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  Speaker 1: were like a teenage driver and you went to take
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  Speaker 1: one of these safe driving classes. But inevitably the instructor
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  Speaker 1: would just start shelling out like um stories about people
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  Speaker 1: doing stupid stuff while they're driving. And one that always
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  Speaker 1: stuck with me was somebody eating cereal while they're driving.
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  Speaker 1: And for years I just thought that was the most
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  Speaker 1: bonkers thing, And then I finally saw it with my
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  Speaker 1: own two eyes, somebody else on the road eating cereal
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  Speaker 1: while driving down the highway during a morning commute. And
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  Speaker 1: it is as bonkers as you would think. It wasn't
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  Speaker 1: any less bonkers seeing it, I guess because there's a
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  Speaker 1: liquid involved, and two hand makes it different than eating
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  Speaker 1: something else. Well, I can drive pretty well with my knees,
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  Speaker 1: are you. I don't know if I would eat clam chowder?
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  Speaker 1: Can you really? I can kind of, but then I'm
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  Speaker 1: also like I can freak myself out and be like
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  Speaker 1: this is really really dangerous. Well, in my car now
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  Speaker 1: has one of those uh sort of driving assistance where
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  Speaker 1: you don't have to hold the steering wheel, that is,
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  Speaker 1: you don't even need meat. It's super freaky and makes
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  Speaker 1: me feel a little bit like unsafe. Right. Yeah, I
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  Speaker 1: have that too, where it's like you start to drift
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  Speaker 1: a little bit and then the car just goes no, no,
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  Speaker 1: and like pushes you back into your lane down one.
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  Speaker 1: It's a little creepy. It feels like your car is possessed, yeah, basically,
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  Speaker 1: or it's like a little a little bossy for my taste.
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  Speaker 1: You don't have to use that stuff. You can turn
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  Speaker 1: that stuff off. I don't know if you can in
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  Speaker 1: the one I have, but but maybe so. Um So,
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  Speaker 1: here's the thing. Distracted driving is an actual thing. But
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  Speaker 1: radio's got signed off on now. They realize that if
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  Speaker 1: you are driving down the road just listening to the radio,
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  Speaker 1: not like fiddling with it or messing you know, finding
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  Speaker 1: a like the right track on your phone or connecting
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  Speaker 1: your phone via Bluetooth to your media center or whatever
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  Speaker 1: in your car. But if you're just listening to music,
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  Speaker 1: it actually helps you focus more. So not only is
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  Speaker 1: the radio not in and of itself or listening in
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  Speaker 1: the music not in and of itself, um, distracting, it
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  Speaker 1: actually helps you focus and probably drive better. So baring
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  Speaker 1: all that in mind, Chuck, doesn't it make sense? That
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  Speaker 1: is the most bizarre thing you could possibly do when
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  Speaker 1: you're lost and you realize you're lost or you're really
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  Speaker 1: trying to concentrate on driving, that you would turn the
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  Speaker 1: radio down. It doesn't make any sense if you think
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  Speaker 1: about it on its face. What it does make is
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  Speaker 1: a great teaser for part two right after that, Man,
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  Speaker 1: you know me so well. Well, now we're on the
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  Speaker 1: road driving in your truck. Want to learn a thing
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  Speaker 1: or two from Josh Man, Chuck. It's stuff you should know,
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  Speaker 1: all right, all right, So if we're talking we need
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  Speaker 1: What we're really talking about is multitasking, and it's pretty
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  Speaker 1: interesting how the human brain works. We've talked about the
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  Speaker 1: brain add nauseum on the show, but just as a refresher,
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  Speaker 1: you've got the cerebrum. If someone subscribed as cerebral, that
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  Speaker 1: means they have uh pretty tight higher cognitive functioning. Going on,
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  Speaker 1: talking about emotion, talking about language, Sure, what's next? What
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  Speaker 1: about the sarah, the cerebellum that's right, that controls muscle movement, balance,
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  Speaker 1: stuff like that. And then you've got the dumb old
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  Speaker 1: brain stem, which just you know, like if you want
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  Speaker 1: to breathe and blink your eyes and stuff like that
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  Speaker 1: and get messages between the spinal cord and the other
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  Speaker 1: two parts of the brain, then your brain stem is
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  Speaker 1: gonna step up right. So um, So, all these parts
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  Speaker 1: of the brain are kind of working in conjunction to
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  Speaker 1: help you do things like drive or walk around or
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  Speaker 1: chew gum or whatever. All of them are going to
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  Speaker 1: play a role either by themselves are in conjunction, more
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  Speaker 1: likely in conjunction with the others. And the way that
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  Speaker 1: you do go through life and not just you, Chuck
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  Speaker 1: or you dear listener, but everybody, every human goes through
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  Speaker 1: life taking in all of the information available to us
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  Speaker 1: through our senses. Are five basic senses, right, which is
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  Speaker 1: um uh, touch, hearing, smell, vision, taste, and then the
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  Speaker 1: sixth one are morphic field sense that's right, seeing dead people,
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  Speaker 1: that's right exactly, or knowing when somebody is staring at
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  Speaker 1: the back of your head. So when you when you
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  Speaker 1: get all of this information, your brain is processing it.
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  Speaker 1: It's um encoding everything, and it's basically while it's encoding
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  Speaker 1: it because it's getting so much different stuff. And I
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  Speaker 1: know we've talked about there's plenty of times before in
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  Speaker 1: past episodes, but I just still to this day find
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  Speaker 1: it fascinating. But the brain is basically saying this is important,
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  Speaker 1: This isn't important. Um, this I can throw away. This
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  Speaker 1: I need to put more focus on. And apparently the
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  Speaker 1: brain is capable of carrying on at least two tasks
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  Speaker 1: virtually simultaneously, but one is considered more important than the other.
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  Speaker 1: So you've got your primary task and your secondary task,
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  Speaker 1: that's right, and switching back and forth between these. Your
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  Speaker 1: brain is really good at it. It's called attention switching,
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  Speaker 1: but it is actually switching, and it does take time.
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  Speaker 1: It's not it doesn't take long, but it can add up.
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  Speaker 1: And Uh, if you think that you're something, you know,
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  Speaker 1: people like to brag about their multitasking abilities. Uh, you're
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  Speaker 1: not really multitasking though you think you are. But what
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  Speaker 1: you're really doing is just doing a lot of things
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  Speaker 1: more poorly than you would be doing right exactly, which
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  Speaker 1: is surprising because multitaskers are such like type A go
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  Speaker 1: getters to begin with, that you would think if you
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  Speaker 1: explain to them, like, hey, you're actually doing way worse
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  Speaker 1: that each of these different things than you would be
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  Speaker 1: if you just did one at a time and complete
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  Speaker 1: each task, that they would take up that mantel. But
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  Speaker 1: I still suspect that they wouldn't, you know. Yeah, I
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  Speaker 1: mean anything over too is a problem for the brain
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  Speaker 1: such that it's not like the brains like, all right,
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  Speaker 1: I'll do all three of these at once, but it's
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  Speaker 1: gonna really I'm gonna struggle. Your brain literally says no, sorry,
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  Speaker 1: that third thing is in line now behind these other
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  Speaker 1: two things, and they're actually in line as well. Or
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  Speaker 1: the brain might even just toss that third one out.
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  Speaker 1: But yeah, there's got to be a primary one, there's
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  Speaker 1: got to be a secondary one, and maybe if it's
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  Speaker 1: in a good mood, your brain will take on the
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  Speaker 1: third one. But when it switches between these things, because
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  Speaker 1: that's the thing. If you have two things that you're
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  Speaker 1: doing and you can't do them actually in parallel, what
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  Speaker 1: that means then is that your brain has to switch
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  Speaker 1: between them right as they kind of compete for one another,
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  Speaker 1: for your brain's resources with one another. And when it
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  Speaker 1: does that, all sorts of terrible things happen. Because it's
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  Speaker 1: not an instantaneous switch. There's a very slight delay, and
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  Speaker 1: in the that slight delay, you can lose attention, lose concentration,
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  Speaker 1: our response time is eaten up. There's a whole bunch
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  Speaker 1: of things that kind of go south, where if we
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  Speaker 1: were just focusing on one thing at that moment, we
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  Speaker 1: would be doing much better at it, and we're doing
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  Speaker 1: two things instead, and we're doing both things more poorly.
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  Speaker 1: That's right, because if you're multitasking, your error rate increases
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  Speaker 1: increases by much as and like we said, you're not
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  Speaker 1: speeding up anyway. If you're multitasking, it's doubling the amount
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  Speaker 1: of time it would take to do each of those
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  Speaker 1: things if you were just doing those things, right, So
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  Speaker 1: you think you're saving time and you're not. No, So
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  Speaker 1: like it's you just said, a chuck, you're doubling the
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  Speaker 1: amount of time it actually takes. Multitasking doesn't take less time,
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  Speaker 1: it doubles the amount of time, which is mind boggling,
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  Speaker 1: ironically enough, Yeah, and you probably don't even realize this.
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  Speaker 1: If you think you're a good multitasker, the small errors
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  Speaker 1: you make, and it could be dumb little things like
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  Speaker 1: you have to go back and retype a line of
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  Speaker 1: an email that you would have typed it correctly the
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  Speaker 1: first time it had you been only doing that, or
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  Speaker 1: zoning out on someone and saying, I'm sorry, will you
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  Speaker 1: repeat that? Because I was doing something else. You're you're
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  Speaker 1: literally your brain is not able to right exactly. So
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  Speaker 1: it makes sense then that if you are suddenly you saidden,
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  Speaker 1: you're driving along, you suddenly realize you don't know the way,
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  Speaker 1: or maybe you're coming up on a street that you
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  Speaker 1: need to turn on, and and these are this is
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  Speaker 1: not familiar area too, and you really need to concentrate.
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  Speaker 1: You would turn down the radio to to remove a
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  Speaker 1: distraction from your brain so that your brain can focus
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  Speaker 1: more clearly on finding this turn, or taking in this
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  Speaker 1: other sensory information, or making these decisions that it needs
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  Speaker 1: to make to get you where you're going, which makes
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  Speaker 1: a lot of sense if you think about it. That's right,
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  Speaker 1: And I'm not sure the science behind it, but I'm
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  Speaker 1: sure some people are a little more um sincerely stimulated
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  Speaker 1: than others by different sences and I'm one of those
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  Speaker 1: that sound can really get to me if I have
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  Speaker 1: I've got to turn that radio down if I'm lost,
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  Speaker 1: or I'll go crazy or the worst thing in planet
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  Speaker 1: Earth to me is having two music's playing at once. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: that's terrible. Like if you have your volume on on
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  Speaker 1: your computer and you have a tab that's playing music,
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  Speaker 1: and you open another tab and it starts playing, it's
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  Speaker 1: just just utter chaos. Can't do it. Nope, I'm with you, Chuck.
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  Speaker 1: You got anything else about turning down the radio when
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  Speaker 1: you're lost? Turn it down. People, do one thing at
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  Speaker 1: a time. You'll get there quicker and it will be better.
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  Speaker 1: There you go. So that means, since Chuck summarized everything
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  Speaker 1: so beautifully, that short stuff is out. Stuff you should
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  Speaker 1: Know is a production of iHeart Radios How Stuff Works.
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