So, I'm on the bus...

As a starving student, I take the bus everywhere: to school, from school, to work, to the mall, to the library, to concerts, to the movies, everywhere. Where I live, I can catch all of two buses: the number 14 to school and downtown, and the number 8 to Tillcum Mall and Oak Bay. As I'm on the bus, it's difficult not to let my eyes wonder. I read the graffiti on the seat in front me, the advertisements along the top of the bus, and the play list on my ipod. Once I've read all of that, I find my mind and eyes wondering, looking for something new to read. I turn my attention to the people getting on and off the bus. For the most part it's students. Whether they are going to Uvic or Camosun College, or even SMUS, they all do the same thing: swipe their id cards and find a seat. They keep to themselves or talk to a friend that's sitting near by. On occasion, there are other people on the bus, and they are the most interesting.

So I'm on the bus one day sitting across from these four young girls, they had to be around 13 years old, maybe younger. Anyways, I'm watching them, inconspicuously of course, and I notice some interesting things:

• Instead of sitting in their own seats, they are sitting on top of each other, two on the bottom, two on the top.
• They all have their own ipods, but they only have one ear-bud in.
• They all have cell phones, and they periodically look at it, and often do something with it, I can only assume they are texting.

So already, these young girls are sitting on each other, listening to music, talking to each other, texting, and I can only assume paying attention to the outside so they know when to get off. There's only one word to describe this: major MULTITASKING. The way these girls are multitasking is a testament to young people and their generation. It's unbelievable really, how a young person can split their mind so many times and get so much stuff done. Whether they are accomplishing these tasks in a timely and satisfactory manner - is the question at hand.

In our EDCI class we read an article: The Multitasking Generation by Claudia Wallis. In the article, there's a quote that I think sums everything up: "the mental habit of dividing one's attention into many small slices has a significant implications for the way young people learn, reason, socialize, do creative work and understand the world" (2006).

The way the young girls acted on the bus may appear as odd, or unconventional, but it's the way they live today. Young people feel the need to spilt their attention and focus on several things at one. It can be considered an evolution of the human species!

Bibliography

Wallis, C. (2006). The Multitasking Generation. Time Magazine. From http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1174696,00.html