Read it and gloat. Researchers at Stan­ford University have just published a study showing that the most persistent multitaskers perform badly in a variety of tasks.

They don’t focus as well as non­multitaskers. They’re more dis­tractible. They’re weaker at shift­ing from one task to another and at organizing information. They are, as a matter of fact, worse at multitasking than people who don’ t ordinarily multitask.

You know what this means. This means that the people around you — the husband who’s tapping the computer ke ys during an important phone conversation with you, the SUV driver with the grande latte and the cell phone, the dinner companion with the roving eye and twitching thumbs — are not only irritating, they are (let’s not be fainthearted) incom­petent.

But, wait. Should it be breaking news that a single person can’t juggle knives and explain quan­tum physics while polishing off an artichoke?