Being able to multitask is hailed by most people as a welcome skill, but not according to a recent study which claims that young people between the ages of eight and eigh of the so-called Generation M are spending a considerable amount of their time in fruitless efforts as they multitask. It argues that, in fact, these young people are frittering (浪费) away as much as half of their time as they would if they performed the very same tasks one after the other.
Some young people are using an ever larger number of electronic devices as they study. At the same time they are working, young s are also surfing on the Internet, or sending out emails to their friends, and/or answering the telephone and listening to music on their iPods or on another computer. As some new device comes along, it is also added to the list rather than replacing one of the existing devices. Other research has indicated that this multitasking is even affecting the way families themselves function as young people are too wrapped up in (沉湎于) their own isolated worlds to interact with the other people around them. They can no longer greet family members when they enter the house nor can they eat at the family table.
All this electronic wizardry (魔力) is supposedly also seriously affecting young people"s performance at university and in the workplace. When asked about their opinions of the impact of modern gadgets (小装置) on their performance of tasks, the great majority of young people gave a favorable response.
The response from the academic and business worlds was not quite as positive. The former feel that multitasking with electronic gadgets by children affects later development of study skills, resulting in a decline in the quality of writing, for example, because of the lack of concentration on task completion. They feel that many undergraduates now urgently need remedial (补救的) help with study skills. Similarly, employers feel that young people entering the workforce need to be taught all over again, as they have become deskilled.
While all this may be true, it must be borne in mind that more and more is expected of young people nowadays; in fact, too much praise rather than criticism is due in respect of the way today"s youth are able to cope despite what the older generation throw at them. The academics feel that many undergraduates badly need to ______.