Yesterday, watching the news while using the elliptical machine at the gym, I tried to speed up my pace by turning up the volume on the TV. I do it all the time. When it comes too multitasking, I am more competent only by a hair, and sometimes not even that. More than once, I’ve found myself standing in my bedroom closet holding, say, a screwdriver and a cup of coffee, as clueless as a sleepwalker about what I’m doing there. And I cannot answer the phone while writing an e-mail without sending the message to the wrong person- or calling the person I’m mailing. Obviously, I am especially unsuited for multitasking; but I would argue that, while most of us are doing it, none of us are doing it well. If you are playing a family board game while making cookies, are you really playing with family or driving everyone crazy by jumping up to check the oven every five minutes?