Except, perhaps, for walking and chewing, you really can't do two things at the same time. I was at a conference on health care. Two days of presentations. Lawyers sitting behind long rows of narrow tables. Several laptops and many, many smartphones resting on the tablecloths that covered the tables. My phone found its way to the space in front of me. Although I turned off the ringer, the light of alerts often caught my eye. "I can listen to the presentation and check that message."

I learned, in a very unscientific, albeit compelling experiment, that you can't do two things at once.