Pay attention, kids

Here's another statement of the obvious, based on a study that cost God knows how much:

Your parents were right, don't study with the TV on.

Multitasking may be a necessity in today's fast-paced world, but new research shows distractions affect the way people learn, making the knowledge they gain harder to use later on.

The study, in Monday's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, also provides a clue as to why it happens.

"What's new is that even if you can learn while distracted, it changes how you learn to make it less efficient and useful," said Russell A. Poldrack, a psychology professor at the University of California, Los Angeles.

I hate to admit it, but I was one of those distracted kids who liked a lot of noise going on with the homework. My multi-tasking of choice wasn't the TV, though, but the radio or a record player (you remember those). If I had a few short lessons, it was the record player. If I had one big project that was going to take a lot of time, the radio was better.

I can't say that the habit affected me into my adult . . . what was I talking about? I've got something from YouTube playing on the other monitor and . . . oh, yeah, now I remember. Homework. It's good for you, kid. Do it.