You wake up, and you have to walk your dog. You have only one hour, so you decide to listen to an audiobook, walk your dog and screen your emails simultaneously. Sounds like a great way to get a lot of things done in a short time. Or so I thought. I noticed that at the end of each walk, I felt exhausted, disengaged and irritable. I started to wonder what went wrong.
This is how multitasking came to my attention. We repeatedly assume that multitasking is a great way to be productive. We live in an economy where our time and attention are a commodity for which numerous brands are fighting. How many of us have listened to Spotify or played a movie on Netflix while answering emails or listened to a podcast while driving to work?
Multi-tasking: a definition
With the exception of breathing and metabolising, it turns out that we cannot perform two or more tasks simultaneously: studies show that we are restricted by the cognitive and neural systems in our brain. What we do well is to switch between tasks with an astonishing speed. Multi-tasking is thus in reality rapid task-switching. It turns out our brain is great at deluding us we are fabulous multi-taskers.
What is more, every time we switch from one task to the other, we pay “a switching cost”: we place an increased demand on the neurocognitive systems that control our attention. When our attention is strained, so is our performance.
At this point, multi-tasking might seem like the ultimate evil. The truth is that we all do it and it doesn’t always hurt us. The strain we feel might not be much when we wash dishes and listen to a TV show, but there are situations where our performance matters. When we drive or complete an important work assignment, our attention is an important factor.
The majority of the research that examines multi-tasking focuses on media multitasking: when we consume media and aim to perform another task. The research is not without its critics. If you feel you are affected by multitasking, by all means, explore the issue and try to see if changing some habits and areas of your every day leads to improvements.
How does multi-tasking affect us?
Makes us distracted
We draw on cognitive resources in order to stay focused: our attention is not unlimited. Every time we switch between tasks, we deplete our attentive resources. As a result, studies show that some of us who engage in multi-tasking may be prone to be more distracted than others no matter whether we try to single-task or multi-task.
“What is more, every time we switch from one task to the other, we pay “a switching cost”: we place an increased demand on the neurocognitive systems that control our attention. When our attention is strained, so is our performance. “
Affects short and long term memory
Studies show that switching between tasks can affect our long and short term memory. Not all of the information we consume is of equal value. We receive numerous text messages via email, messaging apps and social media. We allow goal-relevant and goal-irrelevant information to compete equally for our attention. As a consequence, we are able to hold less goal-relevant information in our memory. Chronic multitasking can be associated with a reduced ability to draw on past memories to inform our present.
Affects mental health
Multi-tasking can be draining: it requires energy, can make us distracted and has a toll on our memory. Coupled with reduced attention, anxiety levels can spike and our mental health suffers.
What can we do about it?
Single-task and try to focus
Whenever you need to perform a complicated task, or your creativity is needed on the line, try to focus on one thing at a time. There is the so-called 20-minute rule: instead of frantically switching between activities, allocate your full focus on an activity for a longer period of time. Try with 20 minutes at first, but if that does not work for your experiment to find your optimal time. There isn’t one rule that fits us all: we all work differently! The important thing is to try to accomplish the task in the allocated time. It can be detrimental to our productivity to leave a feeling of a failed accomplishment.
Structure your plan of action
We can all be over-ambitious when it comes to our ability to get tasks done. A while ago, Uly shared a very valuable tip with me on how she organises her week. Every Sunday she sits down to reflect on the previous week, see how she feels about it and design her schedule for next week. She allocated a couple of tasks a day and then removes 1-2 of them from the list. This helps her from staying away from an unrealistic schedule.
We all multi-task, but the idea is that you need to be aware to what degree you engage in multitasking and its taxing effect on your brain and behaviour. Not all the information we consume is useful, so we may end up paying an expensive price for bad fruit. Perhaps by doing fewer tasks, we can get more done.
