CET 2025 Slot 1 · Verbal – Page 9

Multitasking can increase stress and leave thinking confused. It also creates a reward loop: losing focus to check something new brings an immediate sense of satisfaction, encouraging another search for stimulation. The part of the brain needed for sustained attention is itself vulnerable to novelty. Answering a phone, checking email or sending a message can therefore feel rewarding even while it takes us away from the task we intended to complete.

Instead of gaining the larger rewards of sustained, focused effort, we may collect small rewards from finishing many minor tasks. The number of actions completed can give an impression of productivity without showing that important work has advanced.

In the days of landline telephones, an unanswered call needed little explanation. A person might be away, between places or simply busy. There was no general expectation of reaching someone at every moment. Mobile phones have changed this social assumption: because the device accompanies its owner, availability is often treated as an obligation to respond.

This implicit expectation helps explain why people in meetings answer a call only to say, “I’m sorry, I can’t talk now, I’m in a meeting.” They are acknowledging the caller rather than conducting a useful conversation. The action interrupts the meeting and their attention without removing the need for a later conversation. The example shows how a device intended to make communication convenient can also create pressure to be continuously responsive.

Reading Comprehension passage — shown as image.