Multitasking for Aspies impossible???

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I can rub my tummy with one hand and pat my head with the other at the same time.

ruveyn

I can't even walk and drink at the same time... tried to again the other day.... drink everywhere

I can to some degree but it makes me very tense and anxious (example: trying to have a conversation and cook at the same time).

athletes and musicians generally are the kings of multitasking. a theatrical organist has to be able to make each of his limbs do multiple unrelated tasks simultaneously without a hitch. otherwise it would be a cacaphony issuing forth from the wurlitzer console. same for a drummer. a football player could not do what he or she does sans multitasking. i mean TRUE multitasking and not mere multithreading, with a neural "core" for each limb's separate functions.

Just joined.

It `appears` that I can multi task, however I think I have just learned to switch task and order events in a very efficient way. This is a coping mechanism for me.

Not sure multitasking actually exists i think it is another word used which needs a more specific definition.
(true multi tasking would be the pan of water continues boiling while you butter the toast, this does not require splitting your attention at one time, only remembering to periodically check the water is not boiling over at certain times [interrupting the toast making activity briefly]. you can program in these periodic reminders]

I think what people mean (wrongly) as `multi tasking` is what is known as PRACTICE!
Playing piano with 2 hands so well that it becomes automatic, then you can learn to sing the song on top so well that it becomes automatic then finally you have enough brain space left over to add expression to the lyrics, then doing this so well that you can then have space to improvise on top of that etc etc ..... it is all about learning by practice ( which is easier for some than others by the way)
it is sequential ordering of tasks especially while learning then using skills in parallel after you have learned them. but this is more muscle memory or automatic than concurrent thinking at the same time if you get me.
ALSO

NT definitions of words need refining as assumptions are made and used to label aspies with EG.

Multi tasking = actually switching between different tasks so quickly or efficiently that it looks like they are concurrent.
Empahty = the ability to feel what the other person feels NOT the ability to exhibit that feeling. I am hyper empathic at times and have to surpress it. (that is another thread I believe)

According to these NT definitons which are commonly used to diagnose Aspergers and Autism Aspies can neither Multi task or exhibit Empathy....... both wrong.

We need to create our own definitions as the limitaions of English and science do not always have enough flexibility to adequately describe us.

I can cook a meal no problem. I know when I will cut the chicken, start the rice, etc to have it all done at the same time. But the other day at work my boss handed me a cash drawer, said, tell Kartarius to log you out and put this in. Tell Lisa she can go home now." I walked out and a woman was there with a class asking if we were ready to take their order. I checked with the manager still holding the drawer. Came back, had Kartarius put the drawer in, and took the order. Much later Lisa says, "Why didn't you tell me to go home?" I didn't remember even being asked to do that. If I am helping do fries, or mopping or sweeping I have trouble watching the register for customers. If I am interrupted in my tasks, I forget things I am suppose to do.

I can only multitask in very certain situations.
The major one would be with my interest in gaming. I often play a game that doesn't have much in the way of plot while listening to TV shows. If the game reaches a point where I have to pay attention to the plot of the game, I have to pause the show because I can't follow both at the same time. An unfortunate side-affect is that the show gets linked to the game in my memory.

I realzie that many of the posters on the first and second pages are probably not around anymore, but have they never heard of people like President Garfield who could write Latin with one hand and Greek with the other at the same time? That is true multitasking and he's not the only one who can do it. To say that it is impossible is unscientific. There will be someone who will prove that statement wrong. Improbable is a much better term.
I don't know if I can do that "true" multitasking, but I am good at doing multiple things at once, such as when I was talking on the phone while cooking dinner and breastfeeding my youngest and corralling the eldest... I do not like it and I can't do it for long because it's freakishly exhausting...

Similar to what Protogenoi said, I can also play a game app on my tablet while following a TV show at the same time, but, also similarly, if one or the other gets too involved or too interesting, even, I have to stop one activity and fully pay attention to the one I'm wishing to prioritize.

I find I can multi-task in the sense of giving a kind of fast-switching attention to maybe two activities or points of interest or observation, but if you pile on one more thing I'm losing my cool, getting frustrated, feeling stressed and overloaded, and have to stop ALL of them.

Oddly, the multi-tasking of driving a car came very naturally to me even though that skill is piled high with multi-task demands. It is still stressful but it's do-able. Yet make me have to give focus to more than two things even while sitting still in a quiet room, and I'm not coping well at all.