I could barely remember the days when life was not all about multitasking.  When one did things one at a time and if you wanted to do a lot of things, then it was a matter of doing things faster, more efficiently or simply finding the time in which to do them.  The form of multitasking in the good old days that I could think of, that is when time seemed to move a lot slower and there were certainly a lot less gadgets in my hand, on my lap and in my handbag, was when I read a book while eating my packet of crisps and sipping my cup of tea, or watching the television while vacuuming the carpet at the same time.

Nowadays of course if you don’t multitask you can barely get anything done.  At least that’s how it feels.  It is as if time is such a precious luxury that to fill it with only one activity literally seems like a, well, ‘waste of time.’  To give a concrete example, while writing this article I am also updating my status on Twitter, check what my friends are up to on Facebook or via online chatting, listen to music and watch television plus surf the Internet to read online newspapers and magazines for the latest stories.  And of course there is that important cup of tea.   

Granted that the activities might not necessarily come under the heading of ‘task’ but more of leisure, pleasure or even addiction, but I imagine no one these days really sit down in an armchair for hours on end doing nothing else but read a book or listen to a whole symphony.  At least I don’t.  Not anymore. (I’d like to, really.  But first of all I need to update my status:  reading a book by such and such.  Highly recommended.  And then keep an eye on my mobile device for responses).

After all we now live in a world of the short attention span, the fifteen second message, the one minute video clip, the 140 character essay plus the patience of a the White Rabbit running late to go with it. Even watching television these days is an exercise in channel surfing.  Driving or being in the car is the time to make phone calls, text message people, read the paper or simply update your status ‘I’m in the car.’  

We’ve become very efficient in the sense that we can do a lot of things at the same time in a very short space of time.  It is as if different parts of our bodies are wired to different things at the same time:  our mind can be at one place, our eyes focusing somewhere else, our fingers doing something on their own
However, does this efficiency make us more effective?  Or even better people, if at all?  

At the office the scene is more or less similar.  There is a meeting.   Someone is making a Power Point presentation that requires feed back for an executive decision.  Chances are everybody else in the room is busy doing their own things, poring over their mobile devices, conducting parallel discussions or chatting online, making other decisions on other issues and this doesn’t include those in the meeting who are talking amongst themselves, day dreaming or too impatient to even listen but prefers to butt in at every available occasion.  Everybody is busy.  But nobody is focused.

So are we losing our depth, both in terms of attention but also in our character?  Is the sheer multitude of multi tasking making us so shallow that we can no longer differentiate between rudeness and good manners?  Between what’s proper and what’s inappropriate?  Talking with your mouth full might still be seen as ill mannered, however, these days it seems perfectly normal for a polite conversation to consist of talking to the person before you plus the many others that you and the other person are also engaging in some forms of virtual interactive dialogues.

It can be annoying of course, and frustrating especially if it gets in the way of a deep and meaningful discussion that requires a lot of feed back and participation from those present.  Not to mention a waste of meeting time.

The upside of it however, is that a lot of meaningful, productive discussion and useful feedback can actually be gained by not having a physical meeting at all but conducted over one’s mobile devices, even as one is stuck in the traffic or enjoying a backrub, without having to be in the same room as grouchy colleagues.

(Desi Anwar)

Happiness, they say, is a state of mind.   It is not what you have and it is not what you do.  It is how you feel as you are going through the motion of living.  But then, it is not like emotions either, that change when the sun shines or the rain pours, or even for absolutely no reason at all.  Rather it is a constant (like a background noise that ceases to have no sound because one ceases to listen to it) whose presence is noticeable only during its absence.  Indeed, it is often in moments of unhappiness do we realize how happy our lives have been!  In times of loss do we appreciate how much we actually own.

So, how do we achieve a happy state of mind then?  It is not, as we have said, in possessing.  But we do feel elevated in the anticipation of possessing something we’ve always wanted, do we not?  However, this pleasant sense of anticipation normally disappears very soon after we finally possess what we wanted.  So we move on to the next set of desirable object, not to delight in that object itself, but to fulfil that craving, to revel in the pleasure of the chase and the anticipation.  To get intoxicated in the anguish of being denied.

This anguish (the pain of the lover waiting for the beloved) however, must not be confused with happiness.  Though often it does make one feel that much more alive and gives one a sense of purpose.  That one’s life has a meaning, whether it is in accumulation of all sorts of material things, experiencing different situations and forming a variety of relationships.

That is why one can have the best things in life (a big house, big cars, a beautiful or handsome spouse, intelligent children etc.) and yet still not be happy.  One only needs look at Hollywood scandals or the lives of the rich and famous for a barometer of how much happiness has no relations to who we are, what we do and what we have.  

The other thing about happiness is that it cannot and should not be deferred.  For instance, we often say to ourselves, I will be happy once I get a job, get married, have children, find the love of my life and so on.  The fact is, if you’re not happy now, there is no guarantee that you will be happy tomorrow, next week or next year.  As a matter of fact, if you’re not a happy person to begin with, the chances are you will always find something to be unhappy about or you’re never truly happy to begin with.

I find one of the keys to happiness is to create meaning or value in the things we have or do.  It does not matter how insignificant it may seem to others but if we find meaning in it, it makes a big difference to our state of mind when we do it or when we actually have it.  And the way we feel has a lasting impression that teaches us to appreciate this state of mind and not to confuse it with a temporary mood.

I would like to give a little example.  When I was a young teenager my mother would give me a weekly allowance to spend as I like, which I did, on things that most young people would such as comic books and snacks.  I took the money and I spent it without much thought of where it came from and what I should do with it.

Then I took a Saturday job at a local supermarket where I worked from eight o’clock in the morning until six o’clock in the evening, mostly standing on my feet, stock-checking, pricing goods and attending to customers at the check out desk.  The job for a young girl not used to working was exhausting and I was not free to do as I wanted.  Tea breaks were fifteen minutes long and lunch hour was exactly that.  One hour, no more, no less.

At the end of the day, after I took off my work overalls, I collected my pay for the day.  It was in a brown little pay packet with my name and it contained a small amount of money that I could have easily obtained from my parents in my weekly allowance or if I begged for it.  But it was money that I earned myself, through hours of working that gave me dirty hands and aching feet.

When I got home I gave the money to my mother for keeping, as I did not really need it, but my mother refused.  She said, that is your money.  You earned it and you can do whatever you want with it.  You could throw it away if you want to, but I have no right to it.

Suddenly I felt the money in my hand had a different value to the weekly allowance that I normally got.  Somehow it felt more precious.  It was my first salary paid for by my time and labour.  I developed an appreciation for it, not for the value it had, but for the value that it had for me.  

And it is in this type of appreciation, the appreciation of the value or significance we create in everything we do or we have in life that gives us the true meaning of happiness.