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Because human attention has many properties, one of which is switchability. It provides alternate execution of a particular activity, that is, switching from one type of activity to another. Another property is distributability of attention, which occurs when performing two types of activities under conscious control.
The idea behind all this is that it is impossible to perform many actions at the same time. It is only possible to quickly switch and correctly distribute your own attention. Some people tend to do it faster, and then they often say that this or that person is “like Julius Caesar.”
By the way, even if a person is able to quickly switch their attention, only one of the activities performed should be accurate or require special attention, the rest, “side” activities should be much easier and spend less effort on performing, for example, talking on the phone and combing your hair.
Because a person tries to perform several activities at once, such as talking while driving a car, one of the activities gets worse, which in the example above can lead to an accident.
http://www.youtube.com/embed/uhPqDp_zSbw?wmode=opaque
The human brain is constantly working in multitasking mode.
At the same time, consciousness, subconsciousness, and unconsciousness “spin” in it, and the part of it that controls reflexes, breathing, and so on works.
Consciousness can also work in multitasking mode, so for example, I can simultaneously talk on the phone and drive a car. But, of course, it takes a lot more effort for me to do this, so usually my conversation is not complicated at all, something like “I'm driving now, I'll call you back later”.
It may seem to you that this is not a conversation at all, but nevertheless it is a separate task that my consciousness solves in parallel with the task of driving a car.
So consciousness can also work in multitasking mode, although not as well as if a person focuses on one task.
The brain is so cool that even when I write this answer, it simultaneously receives information from the keyboard and controls, at my behest, my fingers, not to mention how it famously simultaneously copes with control over all the processes taking place in the body. Therefore, I think that if you practice, you may be able to simultaneously delve into the book and the news on TV)
The speed of switching gives the illusion that the brain can work in multitasking mode, although in reality it looks like “do not lose sight and remember all the tasks, and at the same time the ability to switch in a timely manner based on priorities.” That is, multitasking is a complex skill that actually only looks like multitasking, but in fact is a sequence of connected (switched) thinking and attention processes.