We think multitasking increases our efficiency and believe we are just as effective at doing two or three things simultaneously as doing only one. However, our high level of multitasking is a significant obstacle in developing and managing our attention. “People can't multitask very well, and when people say they can, they're deluding themselves,” said Earl Miller, a neuroscience professor at MIT. We can't focus on more than one thing at a time. "Switching from task to task, you think you're simultaneously paying attention to everything around you. But you're not," Miller said. "You're not paying attention to one or two things simultaneously but switching between them very rapidly" (Pasupathy and Miller, 2005).
Costs of Multitasking
According to researchers, productivity can be reduced by as much as 40% when people multitask. Throwing in a load of laundry while talking to a friend will work out all right. However, losing just a half-second to switch tasks can make a life-or-death difference for a driver on a cell phone traveling at 30 MPH. When the driver is not focused on what is happening on the road, the car may travel far enough to crash into an obstacle that might otherwise have been avoided. This is why using cell phones while driving increases the risk of accidents. For complex or critical tasks, multitasking is especially dangerous or ineffective.
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Multitasking: A Hard-to-Break Habit
Multitasking is a deeply reinforced habit and is not easily stopped. Zheng Wang, an associate professor at Ohio State University, found that people get used to multitasking, making them more likely to continue. "If you multitask today, you're likely to do so again tomorrow," she says, "further strengthening the behavior over time." This is true even when multitasking doesn't solve the need to get more done. Multitasking often meets emotional needs for entertainment, input, or distraction. Indeed, you've done this when the primary task was not exciting or difficult, and your mind started to wander. Yet every time we multitask, we reinforce the habit.
Test Your Multitasking Ability
This simple exercise demonstrates that most of us cannot multitask as good as we think.
Write down the words, "I am good at multitasking."
Next, write down the numbers 1 through 21.
Now complete the same task, starting with alternating between each letter of the statement and the corresponding number. For example, write down the letter “I”, then the number “1”, then the letter “a” then the number “2” and so on.
How Did You Do?
Which took longer?
Which required more attention to complete?
In which activity were you more accurate?
The Takeaway
Unless you are very different from most people, you found that alternating between numbers and letters took much longer, and you probably made a mistake or two. The point of this exercise is to point out that multitasking rarely helps us be more efficient. And if we try to do this in high-stakes situations such as driving, the results can be deadly. Make a commitment today to look for ways to reduce your reliance on multitasking during your daily routine.
References
Pasupathy, A. & Miller, E.K. (2005). Different time courses of learning-related activity in the prefrontal cortex and striatum. Nature. Feb 24;433(7028):873-6. doi: 10.1038/nature03287. PMID: 15729344.