I was listening in on a conversation between two men the other day. And remember, we were at a back-to-nature resort (they call it under-stated luxury, I call it Robinson Crusoe in Blahniks) where the idea is to, yes, get close to nature.

Guess what the two of them were talking about? No, not politics, not sex, not football nor cricket, although they could be forgiven for talking about that sport these days – oh my gosh, the scandal that is the World Cup with the murder of Bob Woolmer and the ignominious defeat of the Indians that has brought a great nation to its knees … this could get me finally interested in the game.

Anyway, what they were talking about was technology – their gadgets actually and how they had changed their lives – and the wonderful world of the Internet.

Both took out their Blackberry – I think to show whose was newer or something like that. One said the new Blackberry would no longer have “the wheel” to which my jaw dropped in consternation.

A Blackberry without “the wheel”. Unthinkable. You mean my fingers would have to learn to do something else? Apparently the new Blackberry will have a scroll just like the Nokia 70 series which fortunately I have, which means I won’t have to train my fingers anew. The older you get, the harder it is for your digits to pick up new motor skills.

Ignoring me – and the topic of women’s mechanical skills that I was about to plunge into – they started to talk about the Internet and how important it was to stay current with news and trends.

They then started exchanging websites like there was no tomorrow – which at the Sila Evason Hideaway in Samui, you’d like to believe because today is just so good.

Second Life – that virtual world in which five million citizens today build second lives, set up businesses, trade in Linden dollars, get married and have babies. One Singaporean is building a “Uniquely Singapore” city in that other universe while a woman is getting married in real life to a man she met there.

She says Second Life is better than dating sites because you actually get to interact with the person like in real life.

As one man reeled off websites, the other took notes. “Do you download movies,” one asked. “Yes,” said the other. “Then use this site. It’s cool,” the first said.

Bravely, I interrupted their enthusiastic exchange. “Do these things improve your quality of life?”

They looked at me as though I was a pesky mosquito of which there were a few that evening trying to get their fangs into me.

“When do you have time to do watch movies on your computer? You told me your work takes up all your time?” I asked. Women have this irritating habit (like mosquitoes) of coming back for more.

“Oh, I put the movie on and watch it while I am working and doing other stuff,” said Mr X.

Which brings me to the point of this column. (There always is a point to my columns). There are several reports out that say that trying to do more doesn’t necessarily mean you get more done.

Multi-tasking, they say, increases the chances of mistakes. “Disruptions and interruptions are a bad deal from the standpoint of our ability to process information,” said David Mayer, a cognitive scientist and director of the Brain, Cognition and Action Laboratory at the University of Michigan.

They have some basic advice. Check e-mail messages once an hour at most. Listening to soothing background music is good. But songs with lyrics, instant messaging, television shows hamper performance.

And whatever you do, do not SMS while walking in a park. I walked into a tree the other day.

Or perhaps that’s just a girl thing. Men, we all know, can do everything at the same time.

Cute, any one I know?