The Phenomenon of Multitasking in the Context of Cultural-Historical Transformations and a Growing Complexity in the Information Society

Relevance. Multitasking gets defined socially and dominating with the development of information technologies. It becomes the system of requirements and possibilities for combining, switching and alternating activities of different forms and contents within one complex activity. As a consequence of the technological development of the information society and a result of worldview transformations within the framework of the paradigm of multiplicity of the postmodern culture, the phenomenon of multitasking as a complex form of the activity in the technologized society becomes one of relevant objects of research in psychology and other sciences of man. Purpose. The theoretical analysis of the phenomenon of multitasking as a reflection of a multifaceted nature and variability of the postmodern culture and a result of the entry of digital technologies of the information society into the daily life in the context of the concepts of multiplicity and complexity. Method. The logic and methodology of the study is based on the cultural-historical and activity-based and semantic paradigm. The theoretical and comparative analyses and the method of generalization are employed to achieve the defined goals. Results. The philosophical analysis of socio-cultural, worldview and technological factors that determine the nature of multitasking is carried out. It shows the role of certain philosophical constructs of the postmodern worldview, particular technologies of the information society in developing the basis for the emergence of the phenomenon of multitasking and also its technological embodiment — mediamultitasking. Conclusions. At present, multitasking is the practice imposed by the specific nature of the information-communication activity under the technologization and complexity of the modern realities. Regardless of the attitude to this phenomenon, multitasking is an objective fact of the culture of the information society and, as a result, is one of the prerequisites for an efficient activity under its conditions.