When You Say Nothing At All

A couple of decades ago I could cram for a history exam, carry on a conversation with a dorm room full of people, sing along to the radio, and watch MTV in the background (I told you it was decades ago – when there was actual music on MTV) all at the same time. And I could do so with a great deal of proficiency. I still try my hand at multitasking today, like simultaneously writing a column, carrying on a conversation with my wife, and checking my Twitter feed. Such attempts now end in calamity, as I can no longer recall what I wrote, said, or read unless I’m focused on one thing, or one person, at a time.

Part of my declining competence is age. Researchers, using magnetic resonance imaging, have discovered that as we grow older, we lose the ability to tune out distractions and background noises…