essay about multitasking

Essay About Multitasking

Multitasking – “the ability to do several different things at once” Nowadays, people prefer to divide people in two groups; people who masters to multitask, and those who can’t. Almost everyone place themselves in the former group, thereafter they put the rest of the people in the latter. But of course most people are lying. I personally take advantage of multitasking daily to a certain extent, yes, practically all the time – in a certain level. And my perception of multitasking is the same as http://www.google.no/ ‘s perception on what multitasking is; it’s simply to have the ability to do several different things at once. But something that should be mentioned here is that no one can really multitask. It's when we think we're …show more content…

It's been proven time after time over the last years: multitasking is something only computers can do. What we humans do, when we think that we’re "multitasking", is to jump from doing one thing to another, as mentioned earlier. But let us not forget that there's one more group; those who need to multitask. I'd most probably put myself in that group - the group of people who can't concentrate and focus on one specific thing unless she or he is doing at least one more thing at the exact same time. Now, you may call it ADHD, while I would rather call it being efficient. Of course there’s possible to listen to music while you’re doing your homework – to exclude the other actions around you, and to increase your concentration, like I personally do. But also here, the perceptions are different. Some people find hearing music while doing homework as disturbing. I think that the perception and the results of multitasking are different from person to person, depending on whom the person concerned is and what tasks there is to be done. A day should absolutely have more hours so all tasks on the to-do-list could’ve been done! But that isn’t something we can change… so I think that the only thing we can do is to make the best out of it and remember to relax now and then. Sources:

Multitasking Spits The Brain

Multitasking is possible but you can only do two task because the other will be forgotten. This information answers the research question by saying that multitasking is possible and it affects you by letting you only do two task at the same time (at most) because if you do more than you will forget the rest. People can multitask but only two task at a time. According to the article, Multitasking Spits the Brain it states “ the brain can’t juggle more than two task because it only hemispheres available for management” (Telis, 2010). This means that the brain is only able to do at most two task because it is not able to manage more task at the same time. Also, this article also states “ the triple-task jugglers consistently forgot one of their

Multitasking Can Make You Lose Um Focus

Multitasking, helpful or harmful? In Alina Tugend’s “Multitasking Can Make You Lose…Um…Focus”, Tugend explores multitasking in several ways. Explaining how we as humans sacrifice focus “shifting focus from task to task gives illusion that we’re simultaneously tasking”. Also, how our brains react to operating and trying to do more than one task at once. Only one or two visual stimulants can activate our neurons at one particular time. Lastly, how we can recreate boundaries and cope with everyday life and multitasking. Tugend reiterates several times the importance of one task at a time so we as humans can effectively complete tasks to the best of our abilities instead of giving partial focus and not efficiently completely a task. Multitasking is very beneficial at times, but more often there are significant downfalls; it is crucial we learn how to manage the downfalls of juggling tasks, events, conversations, and daily events.

Multitasking Can Make You Lose Um Focus By Alina Tumgend Summary

Tugend starts her article off by exploring the fact that as we read this article we are more than likely already multitasking weather it be listening to music, texting, tv or even talking to kids! She then goes on to say why multitasking has been accepted since the 1990’s and has been thought to be saving time that neuroscientist have actually proven that multitasking can be less efficient and even cause us a great deal of stress. She uses Dr. Hallowell to emphasize that why multitasking can make tasks more fun that it will actually hinder are focus and but he does go on to say that depending on what function of the brain you are using it could induce or spark creativity. There is actually no such thing as multitasking one can not do two things at once one can simply divide there attention or rapidly switch back and forth from one task to

Multitasking Can Make You Lose

To begin with, multitasking creates a great deal of stress and pressure for the individual. When someone is bombarded with many tasks it becomes overwhelming to try to handle them all at one time. Tugend explains that doing routine tasks are easy to multitask, but once more “cognitive thinking” is used it becomes impossible to be able to focus on both at once. Attempting to can easily cause

Multitask Dbq

In our busy lives, multitasking has become a normal day-to-day activity. In the twenty-first century, the ability to do multiple things simultaneously has become a valuable asset and is viewed as an essential skill by many. However, does multitasking negatively affect the outcome of your task? The practice of doing multiple things at once is detrimental to your efficiency, attentiveness, focus, and detracts from your ability to execute your task well.

The Shallowss: Is Google Making USupid?

We are just watering down the definition of multitasking. In my life many times we believe that we’re multitasking, but are we really mastering it. No! When I’m home listening to music, watching T.V. , and doing homework. Sure I’m multitasking, but am I mastering it. No, cause I really can’t listen to the lyrics of the song. I’m not paying close attention to the T.V. I have no clue what's going on. I’m also, not doing a good job on my homework. All this is because i’m distracted and not focus. Which means i’m not mastering multitasking. If I just really sat and focused on doing one thing at a time it will be so much better. If was just listening to music , I would know the lyrics of the song. If I was to focus just on the T.V. I would actually know what is going on. If I was to just do my homework and nothing else. I would be focusing and do my best on the assignment. So, yes I may be , multitasking ,but i'm not mastering it by any means. Also, in the classroom we did an experiment. In this experiment we split up into two groups. Group A went outside without any distractions. Group B stayed in the classroom with loud wacky music playing. Both groups were required to finish an easy quiz in a matter of a few minutes. After the time was up both groups gathered back in the classroom. And went over their quiz results group at the group without the distractions got more questions right by a landslide over group B.

Multitasking Satire

Now trust me, that’s not very efficient. In the case of multitasking your brain is like a computer. I know, the same thing that very well causes you to be unproductive does the samething to itself. WHen you begin to run to many programs on your computer it actually slows down and may even crash causing any of the work you may have done to go down the drain. Similarly, by multitasking, you actually make it harder for yourself to stay on task as a part of the brain called the striatum has to burn more oxygenated glucose, causing you to lose focus and be more tired than before. Explain more thoroughly with

Task Switching Essay

Many people take pride in the fact that they can multitask. A study “Task Switching” conducted by Monsell concluded that multitasking, or switching

Essay on Multitasking is A Bad Habit

5 Works Cited

In this modern era, it has become commonplace to try and accomplish as many tasks as possible as quickly as possible in order to be more efficient. With the help of technology, many believe that multitasking is becoming a required and helpful skill. Multitasking is actually a detrimental habit. Multitasking divides a person's concentration in order to attempt to complete multiple actions. Even though in the end the tasks are all finished, the quality of the finished task and the time required to finish all the tasks makes multitasking very inefficient. In addition, this division of concentration is causing many people to not pay attention. For most, multitasking is a disadvantageous skill that should not be encouraged as a valid

The Negative Impacts of Social Media Essay

16 Works Cited

While students feel they are great at multitasking, studies show that they actually perform academically at a lower level than those who do not multitask. A study was conducted by a respected research lab in Stanford University. Clifford Nass, a professor of communications at Stanford University, introduces us to a study conducted on carefully-selected high chronic students who multitask (Digital Nation). The experiment was structured for students to identify numbers as odd or even, letters as vowels or consonants. Professor Nass wanted to test how quickly these students can switch tasks without losing focus. The results showed that people who multitask are slower than those who do not multitask. While slower does not mean horrible, it should raise a sign that if they had focused on their work only they would get better scores in their respective studies. Sherry Turkle, in an interview, displayed the differences between two common multitasking activities: taking a break from your studies to stretch and surfing the web. Turkle says: “When you get up and stretch and take a walk around the block, you can stay with your problem. You can clear your mind; you can move your body. You can stay

Multitask Research Paper

Findings regarding multitasking seems to be a lot of talk in Psychology. Theme four says that humans are responsible limited agents and we have agency, meaning the ability to act as agents in the world. This involves the ability to chose, but it is limited. This relates to multitasking. Multitasking is the practice of doing multiple things at the same time (SGWN pg 135). Theme four can relate to multitasking because having agency implies not only we make choices but also that we can change ourselves in some way. Theme four is relating to multitasking and saying that we have the choice to multitask and do multiple things at one time even though there are limitations on how much we are able to change since we exist in a particular time and place.

Multitasking Research Paper

If you take a moment to look back at a time you have tried to multitask, you would probably realize that you were not making much progress and was getting frustrated more than gettings the task done. With multitasking comes stress and

Effects Of Multitasking On The Brain

Hook: Everyone thinks that multitasking is good for the brain and that everyone should want that skill. Well unfortunately studies proven by scientist at the institute in Paris Santé et de la Recherche Médication found that the brain splits into two, basically splitting the attention. It was said that at the most someone can do two things at once depending on the ease of the tasks. The reason being for this is due to the two frontal lobes of the brain designed to help someone with tasks.

The Negative Effects Of Multitasking

Multitasking is becoming very significant on the workplace to complete the task in less time. In fact, some people believe that multitasking saves time and can be done at all together. On the other hand, some people think that it is a distracting activity which leads to a lack of concentration. According to David Silverman, “In Defense of Multitasking”, multitasking is “crucial to survival in today’s workplace” (522). However, I do not agree because multitasking reduces productivity, increases stress levels and it is, especially, problematic for students.

The Negative Effects of Technology on Society Essay

3 Works Cited

Through extensive research we are now able to see that multitasking is not an effective learning method, but is a bad thing to do.

How Multitasking Affects Productivity and Brain Health

Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

Amy Morin, LCSW, is a psychotherapist and international bestselling author. Her books, including "13 Things Mentally Strong People Don't Do," have been translated into more than 40 languages. Her TEDx talk, "The Secret of Becoming Mentally Strong," is one of the most viewed talks of all time.

Gpointstudio / Getty Images

Multitasking and Productivity

Brain Function in Multitaskers

Break the Habit

Frequently Asked Questions

What is multitasking.

Multitasking involves working on two or more tasks simultaneously, switching back and forth from one thing to another, or performing a number of tasks in rapid succession.

Is multitasking a good thing? While multitasking seems like a great way to get a lot done at once, research has shown that our brains are not nearly as good at handling multiple tasks as we like to think they are. In fact, some research suggests that multitasking can actually hamper your productivity by reducing your comprehension, attention, and overall performance.

What is it that makes multitasking such a productivity killer? It might seem like you are accomplishing multiple things at the same time, but what you are really doing is quickly shifting your attention and focus from one thing to the next. Switching from one task to another may make it difficult to tune out distractions and can cause mental blocks that can slow you down.

Examples of Multitasking

Starting two projects at the same time
Listening to the radio while driving to work
Talking on the phone while typing an assignment
Watching television while responding to work emails
Scrolling through social media while in a meeting
Listening to a person talk while writing a to-do list

How Multitasking Hampers Productivity

Multitasking takes a serious toll on productivity . Our brains lack the ability to perform multiple tasks at the same time—in moments where we think we're multitasking, we're likely just switching quickly from task to task. Focusing on a single task is a much more effective approach for several reasons.

Multitasking Is Distracting

Multitaskers may feel more distracted than people who focus on one task at a time. This makes sense when you consider that, by habit, multitaskers constantly refocus on a new task, effectively distracting themselves from their original assignment.

Some research suggests that multitaskers are more distractible, and they may have trouble focusing their attention even when they're not working on multiple tasks at once.

Other research shows that while there may be a connection between multitasking and distraction, that link is smaller than originally thought and varies quite a bit from person to person.

Multitasking Slows You Down

While it may seem contrary to popular belief, we tend to work slower and less efficiently when we multitask. Multitasking leads to what psychologists call "task switch costs," or the negative effects that come from switching from task to task. We encounter task switch costs (like a slower working pace) because of the increased mental demand that's associated with jumping from one thing to another.

Changing our focus also keeps us from relying on automatic behaviors to finish tasks quickly. When we're focused on a single task that we've done before, we can work on "autopilot," which frees up mental resources. Switching back and forth bypasses this process, and we tend to work more slowly as a result.

Multitasking Impairs Executive Function

Multitasking is managed by executive functions in the brain . These control and manage cognitive processes and determine how, when, and in what order certain tasks are performed. There are two stages to the executive control process:

Goal shifting : Deciding to do one thing instead of another
Rule activation : Changing from the rules for the previous task to the rules for the new task

Moving through these stages may only add a few tenths of a second, but it can start to add up when people switch back and forth repeatedly. This might not be a big deal when you are folding laundry and watching television at the same time.

However, if you are in a situation where safety or productivity is important, such as when you are driving in heavy traffic, even small amounts of time can prove critical.

Multitaskers Make Mistakes

Multitasking may lower your performance and make you more prone to making mistakes. Research has shown that students who multitask in class tend to have lower GPAs (and, if they continue multitasking at home, they often take longer to finish their homework).

Adults may also experience lower performance while multitasking. One 2018 study found that older adults were likely to make more mistakes while driving if they were multitasking.

Doing several different things at once can impair cognitive ability , even for people who multitask frequently. In fact, research suggests that people tend to overestimate their ability to multitask, and the people who engage in this habit most frequently often lack the skills needed to be effective at it.

Chronic multitaskers tend to show more impulsivity than their peers, and they may be more likely to downplay possible risks associated with tackling multiple things at once. They also seem to show lower levels of executive control and are often distracted easily.

Limited cognitive resources may be involved in this phenomenon. Several networks in the brain interact to guide our behavior whenever we set out to complete a task. This behavior includes:

Setting a goal
Identifying the information we need to achieve it
Disregarding irrelevant distractions

When we try to engage in this process for multiple tasks at once, it can lead to cognitive errors. We might fail to disregard irrelevant information, for instance, which would lead to more distraction.

The research isn't clear on the exact relationship between multitasking and brain function. It's possible that chronic multitasking changes the brain over time, leading to more distractibility and problems with focus, or it may be that people with these traits are more likely to multitask in the first place.

Teens and Multitasking

The negative impact of chronic, heavy multitasking might be particularly detrimental to adolescent minds. At this age, brains are busy forming important neural connections. Spreading attention so thin and constantly being distracted by different streams of information might have a serious, long-term, negative impact on how these connections form.

Media Multitasking

Some research suggests that people who engage in media multitasking (using more than one form of media or type of technology at once) might be better at integrating visual and auditory information.

In one study, participants between the ages of 19 and 28 were asked to complete questionnaires regarding their media usage. The participants then completed a visual search task both with and without a sound to indicate when an item changed color.

Heavy multitaskers performed better on the search when the sound was presented, indicating that they were more adept at integrating the two sources of sensory information . Conversely, heavy multitaskers performed worse than light/medium multitaskers when the tone was not present.

Break the Multitasking Habit

If you feel like multitasking is negatively impacting your life, it is possible to make some changes that will increase your productivity and efficiency. Next time you find yourself multitasking, take a quick assessment of the various things you are trying to accomplish. Then, determine which task you need to focus on first. Try to:

Limit the number of things you juggle at any given time to just one task . If you do need to work on multiple things at once, try to combine something automatic, like folding laundry, with something that requires more focus, like having a conversation.
Use the "20-minute rule." Instead of constantly switching between tasks, try to fully devote your attention to one task for 20 minutes before switching to the other.
Batch your tasks . If you're having trouble resisting the urge to check your email or engage in another distracting task, schedule a set time in your day to tackle it. By batching similar tasks together and setting a time to handle them, you can free your mind up to focus on something else.
Limit distractions . This may mean seeking out a quieter place to work, switching your phone off, and turning off notifications and alarms.
Practice mindfulness . Adding mindfulness to your daily routine may help you notice the times when you're multitasking. Mindfulness can also improve your ability to focus and pay attention to one thing at a time.

Working on one task at a time may help you become more productive and it may make each task more enjoyable.

Yes, it can be. Multitasking may reduce your ability to focus, increase feelings of stress, and exacerbate impulsiveness. It can also worsen your performance at work or school, which can lead to further negative feelings and anxiety.

It means that, like most of us, their brain isn't wired to work on multiple complex tasks simultaneously. We perform much better when we focus fully on one thing at a time.

You should consider whether or not you're really able to multitask before adding it to your resume. We have a tendency to overestimate our ability to multitask, and even people who think they're skilled in this area often make mistakes or work inefficiently.

Jeong S-H, Hwang Y. Media multitasking effects on cognitive vs. attitudinal outcomes: A meta-analysis . Hum Commun Res . 2016;42(4):599-618. doi:10.1111/hcre.12089

Madore KP, Wagner AD. Multicosts of multitasking . Cerebrum . 2019;2019:cer-04-19.

Moisala M, Salmela V, Hietajärvi L, et al. Media multitasking is associated with distractibility and increased prefrontal activity in adolescents and young adults . NeuroImage . 2016;134:113-121. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2016.04.011

Wiradhany W, Koerts J. Everyday functioning-related cognitive correlates of media multitasking: A mini meta-analysis . Media Psychol . 2021;24(2):276-303. doi:10.1080/15213269.2019.1685393

Rubinstein JS, Meyer DE, Evans, JE. Executive control of cognitive processes in task switching . J Exp Psychol Human. 2001;27(4):763-797. doi:10.1037/0096-1523.27.4.763

Bellur S, Nowak KL, Hull KS. Make it our time: In class multitaskers have lower academic performance . Comput Hum Behav . 2015;53:63-70. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2015.06.027

Wechsler K, Drescher U, Janouch C, Haeger M, Voelcker-Rehage C, Bock O. Multitasking during simulated car driving: A comparison of young and older persons . Front Psychol . 2018;0. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00910

Sanbonmatsu DM, Strayer DL, Medeiros-Ward N, Watson JM. Who multi-tasks and why? Multi-tasking ability, perceived multi-tasking ability, impulsivity, and sensation seeking . PLOS ONE . 2013;8(1):e54402. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0054402

Uncapher MR, Lin L, Rosen LD, et al. Media multitasking and cognitive, psychological, neural, and learning differences . Pediatrics . 2017;140(Supplement 2):S62-S66. doi:10.1542/peds.2016-1758D

Lui KFH, Wong AC-N. Does media multitasking always hurt? A positive correlation between multitasking and multisensory integration . Psychon Bull Rev . 2012;19(4):647-653. doi:10.3758/s13423-012-0245-7

By Kendra Cherry, MSEd Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

Why multitasking does more harm than good

If you’ve ever opened another tab and made the grocery order during a Zoom meeting, folded laundry while helping your kids with their homework, or listened to a podcast while working out, you’ve been guilty of multitasking. Why guilty? Isn’t this just being super efficient? Not really. A growing body of research has found that it’s far less efficient to try to do two (or more!) things at once than to focus on just one task at a time. Multitasking can interfere with working memory , cause students to do worse in school, and could possibly even create potentially long-term memory problems .

Your Brain While Multitasking

When we take on a task, several brain networks dealing with attention and cognitive control are involved. These are the frontoparietal control network, the dorsal attention network, and the ventral attention network. Attempts to multitask can create interference among these networks, and this can lead to slower processing as well as mistakes, explains Kevin Paul Madore, a neuroscientist at Stanford University. “One way we can examine the effects of multitasking on behavior and the demands it places on relevant brain networks is by analyzing ‘task switch costs,'" he says.

A switch cost is a loss of accuracy or speed that comes when you shift between tasks. Though some of the costs of multitasking are subtle, they are by no means trivial. Too much multitasking can interfere with both working memory and long-term memory. Research by Madore and colleagues found that heavier media multitasking is associated with attention lapses and forgetfulness. However, it’s still not clear what’s causing what. “ Some research has indicated that chronic everyday media multitasking is related to errors in our ability to hold and use information in mind (working memory) and our ability to retrieve information (long-term memory),” says Madore, but he adds that more research is needed to determine the direction of causality.

Still, whether you’re less efficient because you’re multitasking or you’re multitasking because you’re less efficient (why is that to-do list so long?), multitasking doesn’t really solve anything.

Multitasking Light

It might seem that some types of multitasking are easier to pull off than others. Sure, texting while driving is a no-go , but surely folding the laundry while helping the kids with their homework is easy enough. But no, that doesn’t work either. You’re not risking life and limb — yours or anyone else’s — when you combine laundry and school work, but you’re still not going to be able to do your best at either task when trying to do both at once. “When you have competing sources of attention, your task performance is often going to be reduced,” says Madore. “You’re probably slower at folding laundry or maybe you drop some things on the floor when you’re helping a child with homework versus folding laundry alone.”

Dropping a few socks is not a big deal, and certainly worth the cost of having some time with your kids (though being with your kids while not giving them your full attention might have its own costs). On the other hand, some of the consequences of trying to do two things at once, even if those things seem simple, can be horrific — having a car accident, for example. Even eating a sandwich or fiddling with the CD player while driving can increase your risk of an accident.

There’s at least one situation, though, where multitasking can be your friend. Some studies have shown that taking a walk while trying to sort out a thorny problem improves creativity and can help you come up with better solutions. So perhaps when we’re trying to figure out how to get through that seemingly endless to-do list, we should forget about trying to do two or three of those things at once and go out for a walk. That might just lead to a creative solution to the time crunch problem.

All Access Pass
PLR Articles
PLR Courses
PLR Social Media

Grab Our Free eBook to Learn How to Grow Your Wellness Business Exponentially!

What is multitasking (a definition), opposite of multitasking (single tasking).

All-Access Pass - Wellness PLR Content Collection

Examples of Multitasking

Is multitasking a myth, multitasking in the brain, video: what multitasking does to your brain .

Multitasking Research (in Psychology)

Well-Being PLR Courses - Grow Your Business Fast

Pros & Cons of Multitasking

More multitasking facts.

First, we know that people whose minds naturally wander more often tend to be less efficient multitaskers (Ralph et al., 2014).
Second, it may be the case that multitasking can make people more productive, but less accurate in their work (Adler & Benbunan-Fich, 2012).
Third, although people of all ages tend to multitask in similar ways and at similar times, older generations tend to multitask less than younger generations (Carrier et al., 2009). In fact, the youngest generation is extremely effective at consuming more than one kind of media at the same time – a kind of extreme media multitasking (Rideout et al., 2010).

Well-Being PLR Article Packages - Grow Your Business Fast

Articles Related to Multitasking

Rushing: Definition, Examples, and How to Stop
Self-Management: Definition, Skills & Strategies
Centering: Definition, Exercises, & Quotes

Books Related to Multitasking

The Myth of Multitasking: How “Doing It All” Gets Nothing Done
The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth About Extraordinary Results
To-Do List Formula: A Stress-Free Guide To Creating To-Do Lists That Work!

Final Thoughts on Multitasking

Don't forget to grab our free ebook to learn how to grow your wellness business exponentially.

Adler, R. F., & Benbunan-Fich, R. (2012). Juggling on a high wire: Multitasking effects on performance . International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 70(2), 156-168.
Buser, T., & Peter, N. (2012). Multitasking . Experimental Economics, 15(4), 641-655.
Carr, N. (2020). The shallows: What the Internet is doing to our brains . WW Norton & Company.
Carrier, L. M., Cheever, N. A., Rosen, L. D., Benitez, S., & Chang, J. (2009). Multitasking across generations: Multitasking choices and difficulty ratings in three generations of Americans . Computers in Human Behavior, 25(2), 483-489.
Carrier, L. M., Rosen, L. D., Cheever, N. A., & Lim, A. F. (2015). Causes, effects, and practicalities of everyday multitasking . Developmental Review, 35, 64-78.
Colom, R., Martínez-Molina, A., Shih, P. C., & Santacreu, J. (2010). Intelligence, working memory, and multitasking performance . Intelligence, 38(6), 543-551.
Courage, M. L., Bakhtiar, A., Fitzpatrick, C., Kenny, S., & Brandeau, K. (2015). Growing up multitasking: The costs and benefits for cognitive development . Developmental Review, 35, 5-41.
Fischer, R., & Plessow, F. (2015). Efficient multitasking: parallel versus serial processing of multiple tasks . Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 1366.
Ralph, B. C., Thomson, D. R., Cheyne, J. A., & Smilek, D. (2014). Media multitasking and failures of attention in everyday life . Psychological Research, 78(5), 661-669.
Rideout, V. J., Foehr, U. G., & Roberts, D. F. (2010). Generation M2: Media in the lives of 8-to 18-year-olds . Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.
Rosen, L. D., Carrier, L. M., & Cheever, N. A. (2013). Facebook and texting made me do it: Media-induced task-switching while studying . Computers in Human Behavior, 29(3), 948-958.
Rothbart, M. K., & Posner, M. I. (2015). The developing brain in a multitasking world . Developmental Review, 35, 42-63.
Salvucci, D. D., & Taatgen, N. A. (2008). Threaded cognition: an integrated theory of concurrent multitasking . Psychological Review, 115(1), 101.
Salvucci, D. D., & Taatgen, N. A. (2010). The multitasking mind . New York: Oxford University Press.
van der Schuur, W. A., Baumgartner, S. E., Sumter, S. R., & Valkenburg, P. M. (2015). The consequences of media multitasking for youth: A review . Computers in Human Behavior, 53, 204-215.
Waller, M. J. (1997). Keeping the pins in the air: How work groups juggle multiple tasks. In M. M. Beyerlein & D. A. Johnson (Eds.), Advances in interdisciplinary studies of work teams (Vol. 4, pp. 217–247). Stamford, CT: JAI Press.
Wang, Z., & Tchernev, J. M. (2012). The “myth” of media multitasking: Reciprocal dynamics of media multitasking, personal needs, and gratifications . Journal of Communication, 62(3), 493-513.
Watson, J. M., & Strayer, D. L. (2010). Supertaskers: Profiles in extraordinary multitasking ability . Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 17(4), 479-485.
Happiness
Stress Management
Self-Confidence
Manifestation
All Articles...
All-Access Pass
PLR Content Packages
PLR Courses

Home — Essay Samples — Life — Professions & Career — Multitasking

Essays on Multitasking

Multitasking: a critical analysis of peter bregman's ideas, multitasking as a risky form of art, made-to-order essay as fast as you need it.

Each essay is customized to cater to your unique preferences

+ experts online

Why Multitasking is not Good for a Person

How multitasking is damaging teenagers’ productivity and efficiency, the negative side effects of multitasking on performance, what multitasking means: the myths, the science, and the solutions, let us write you an essay from scratch.

450+ experts on 30 subjects ready to help
Custom essay delivered in as few as 3 hours

Exploring The Illusion of Multitasking and Its Positive Effect

Whether multitasking is a productive booster for young learners, the high price of multitasking, relevant topics.

Career Goals
Dream Career
Community Service
Work Experience
Dental Assistant

By clicking “Check Writers’ Offers”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy . We’ll occasionally send you promo and account related email

No need to pay just yet!

We use cookies to personalyze your web-site experience. By continuing we’ll assume you board with our cookie policy .

Instructions Followed To The Letter
Deadlines Met At Every Stage
Unique And Plagiarism Free

Multitasking Person in Modern Life Essay

Today’s generation has been subjected to a high number of stimuli that affects the attention span of individuals whenever they are handling an important task. Technology has a particularly big role to play in the development of the multitasking culture because various innovative devices such as smartphones have facilitated the ability to communicate with others on call, online platforms, and other communication channels while simultaneously handling other tasks.

Alina Tugend’s article focuses on multitasking as a major concern in performance enhancement (Tugend 725). The author begins by accurately revealing that there is nothing like multitasking. She reveals that when people assume that they are multitasking, they are only switching their focus from one task to the other, and the speed of switching is dependent on their cognitive flexibility level.

The article is quite enlightening because Tugend cites various psychological studies that have been conducted by researchers looking to establish the capability of the mind to multitask. The researchers agree that multi-tasking is a bad habit for individuals looking to enhance their performance level because they only give the important tasks a few minutes of concentration (Tugend 728). It is apparent that Tugend sticks her focus on the harmful effects of multitasking by revealing the findings from different studies that claim that the human mind can only attain efficiency if individuals can train themselves to focus on one task at a time.

However, Tugend contradicts her claims by revealing that some studies have shown that multitasking can enhance the speed of handling various tasks. In a paradigm where people are expected to deliver results at a fast rate, multitasking would facilitate high performance. Tugend also loses focus on her intended theme when she introduces evidence showing that based on the size of the human prefrontal cortex, individuals can concentrate on several tasks but they would have to switch from one task to the other (Tugend 727).

This is an indication that the human brain might be adapting to the constant need to multitask. While some of the studies reveal that multitasking results in lower performance because of the divided attention given to respective tasks, the process might be helpful in time saving, and routine multitasking can actually have positive effects on performance.

Tugend’s stance about multitasking is that it is harmful to the mind because it results in stress and overworking the brain with tasks that are not particularly helpful. She believes that humans should train themselves to focus on one task at a time, and this would ultimately improve their performance in relevant tasks, while also increasing their innovative abilities (Tugend 728). Juggling attention between many tasks weakens the ability of the mind to deliver high performance, and it results in fatigue. It is, therefore, clear that trying to handle more than one task at a time results in the loss of focus.

While Tugend’s article clearly reveals the effects of multitasking, it is also apparent that the human brain constantly shifts attention because of the various forms of stimuli around an individual. It is difficult to entirely concentrate on one task in an environment with a lot of noise in the form of different stimuli. Tugend’s article, therefore, should compel individuals to ensure that they handle every task in the appropriate environment to prevent attention shifts to other tasks.

Tugend, Alina. “Multitasking Can Make You Lose Um…Focus.” The Norton Field Guide To Writing , Richard Bullock et al., 1st ed., W.W. Norton & Company, New York City, 2008, pp. 725-730.

Chicago (A-D)
Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2020, October 5). Multitasking Person in Modern Life. https://ivypanda.com/essays/multitasking-person-in-modern-life/

"Multitasking Person in Modern Life." IvyPanda , 5 Oct. 2020, ivypanda.com/essays/multitasking-person-in-modern-life/.

IvyPanda . (2020) 'Multitasking Person in Modern Life'. 5 October.

IvyPanda . 2020. "Multitasking Person in Modern Life." October 5, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/multitasking-person-in-modern-life/.

1. IvyPanda . "Multitasking Person in Modern Life." October 5, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/multitasking-person-in-modern-life/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Multitasking Person in Modern Life." October 5, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/multitasking-person-in-modern-life/.

Multitasking as an Obstacle on the Way to Cognition
The Myth of Multitasking by Christine Rosen
"The Myth of Multitasking" by Rosen: Rhetorical Analysis
Social Psychology Principles in American Movies
Structuralism and Its Principles in Psychology
Gestalt Psychology: Therapy and Its Principles
"Man's Search for Meaning" by Viktor Frankl
Groups in Psychology According to Ronald Riggio

The 7 Laws of Multitasking

The two main hazards (and two main benefits) of multitasking..

Posted December 16, 2014

The benefits and hazards of multitasking.

You’ve been told that multitasking is a bad idea. Articles and essays appear every day telling you why multitasking is dangerous, makes things take longer, tires out your brain, reduces the quality of your work, and lowers your IQ . And, for the most part, these warnings are all based on good research. 1, 2

But have you ever noticed that you still multitask in many ways, and it usually works out just fine?

The truth is that sometimes multitasking is a very bad idea, sometimes it doesn’t help, but also doesn’t hurt much, and sometimes it brings great benefits. The point of this essay is to help us tell the difference.

And, with that, I present the seven laws of multitasking.

Law One: Some tasks mix well.

In the simplest case, when you multitask, you have a primary task (task A), and a secondary task (task B). The primary task is your priority. The secondary task is tacked on as something else you can enjoy or accomplish at the same time.

Sometimes the two tasks will mix well. Here are some examples:

listening to music while practicing a sports skill
talking with strangers while waiting in line
listening to a talk radio program while driving (sometimes)
listening to music while working.
talking on the phone while cooking
cleaning a room while doing a weight workout
doing dishes while waiting for a video game to load
watching television while folding laundry
listening to an audiobook while exercising
drinking coffee while talking with a friend
eating popcorn while watching a movie

And, contrary to idiom, even chewing gum while walking works out just fine most of the time.

On the other hand, . . .

Law Two: Some tasks mix poorly.

Sometimes tasks don’t mix well. Here are some examples:

texting while driving
monitoring social media while doing high-focus creative work
watching television while doing homework
listening to a podcast while writing
listening to music with lyrics while reading
talking with friends while watching a movie
emailing one person while talking with another
playing angry birds while landing a commercial passenger jet.

These examples, good and bad, come from my own experience, from common experience, and from the research literature. One or two of the examples might fail to resonate for you, but the point remains: multitasking is a mixed bag.

Now let’s see if we can figure out what makes multitasking good in some cases and bad in others.

Law Three: It’s partly about switching costs.

Imagine you have a small kitchen, and you plan to make two omelets and two batches of cookies. In what order should you do your cooking?

When you make an omelet, you must get out the eggs, the cheese, a cutting board, a knife, some spices, some vegetables, a skillet, and a mixing bowl. Then you make the omelet. And, if you’re like me, when you’re finished, you still have a dirty mixing bowl, cutting board and skillet sitting there, with the eggs, cheese, and maybe some extra veggies still sitting on the counter. At some point you will need to clean up and put things away.

So we can break the task of making a single omelet into three parts: 1) setup, 2) make the omelet, 3) cleanup.

And the same goes for baking cookies. You’ll have the same three components to that task: setup, make the cookies, and cleanup.

Now consider two plans for making the two omelets and two batches of cookies:

Plan 1 : omelet, cookies, omelet, cookies

Plan 2 : omelet, omelet, cookies, cookies.

And consider how much time and effort is required for each plan.

With plan 1 you will need to:

setup for omelet
make omelet
setup for cookies
make cookies

With plan 2 you will need to:

When you alternate tasks, you have to clean up task A before you can setup for task B (remember, this is a small kitchen). And it turns out that you can save a lot of work by focusing on one kind of food at a time instead of switching between them. You save two setups and two cleanups by following plan 2 instead of plan 1. This is the benefit of batch processing. It saves on overhead.

The same thing happens in your brain when you multitask. For example, when you sit down to do some homework your mind has to do some setup tasks. It must load certain information into short term memory , build appropriate mental models, erect filters to keep irrelevant information out, and so forth.

Now, if you switch your attention to watching television for a few seconds, you must free up some of the resources being used for homework, and prepare some new mental resources that are needed to track the show you’re watching.

So your mind has to perform some cleanup and setup work every time you switch from homework to television, and every time you switch back as well. These are known as “switching costs”, and they cost you in terms of both time and energy.

The costs might be small for an individual switch, but after an hour of homework/television they add up, and you might find you got only half of the homework done you could have, and you might be more mentally weary as well. 2

And the switching costs will be even greater if your primary task is a complicated creative endeavor, such as constructing a mathematical proof, developing a theory in physics, writing about a complicated topic, or coding a complex algorithm.

Richard Feynman had the following to say about allowing creative work to be interrupted (whether by accident or through multitasking):

“To do high, real good physics work you do need absolutely solid lengths of time, so that when you’re putting ideas together which are vague and hard to remember, it’s very much like building a house of cards and each of the cards is shaky, and if you forget one of them the whole thing collapses again. You don’t know how you got there and you have to build them up again, . . .” 3

The problem is that, when you’re doing complicated work, you often have to build up intricate mental models, and you’re pushing yourself to the edge of your capacity to concentrate. And when you take your attention away from your creative task and attend to an interruption, the mental models dissolve. And you probably won’t be able to build them back up the way they were.

It’s like having your computer crash while writing a paper, and realizing you hadn’t saved your document for half an hour. It will cost you time and energy trying to get everything built back up, and you might not actually get it back the way it was.

The real tragedy here is not that sometimes geniuses lose track of where they were. Geniuses typically value deep concentration and take measures to protect against interruption. The real tragedy is that many chronic multitaskers never bother with deep concentration, and might never discover the genius within them.

Law Four: It’s partly about resource conflict.

Another problem with mutitasking is that task A and task B might need the same mental resource, and they can’t both use it at the same time.

If a person listens to light instrumental music while sending an email message, there is typically little problem. Task B (listening to music) makes use of mental resources not needed for task A (writing the email message). If our email writer sub-vocalizes as she writes, there might be some auditory involvement, but the music won’t require verbal processing, so the degree of conflict is minimal.

If, on the other hand, she talks with a colleague while writing her email, then there is much more conflict over mental resources. Task B requires the person to construct and communicate meaning in sentences, just like task A does. Both require empathy and social strategizing as well. Trying to do both tasks at the same time will cause high switching costs and a greater chance of error.

Texting while driving is an iconic case of resource conflict. Both tasks compete over visual attention. When you switch your gaze from driving to texting, you will no longer be able to see new driving hazards as long as you are looking at your phone. Plus it takes some time to get situation awareness when you look back to the road. That’s why texting and driving is now the number one cause of death for teen drivers. 4

In general, when it’s important to do task A well, we should not also take on a secondary task that competes with the primary task for key resources.

Law Five: It’s partly about sweetening the pot.

But there are benefits to multitasking. Sometimes we are staring down a relatively simple task that we just don’t want to do (such as folding clothes). But we know that we would be much happier doing that task if we could do something else pleasant or useful at the same time (such as watching television or listening to an audio book). So we multitask in order to “sweeten the pot”, so we will have the motivation needed to perform the primary task.

We might not fold the clothes in record time. There will be some switching costs. But the alternative, if we’re being frank, is that we won’t fold the clothes at all. And, since the task is relatively simple, the switching costs will be manageable.

Or sometimes the primary task will contain periods of activity interspersed with periods of inactivity, while another task can be broken into small chunks that can fit those gaps. When I workout with weights, I perform sets of exercise with periods of rest in between. When I clean my office I do a series of discrete tasks with natural break points between subtasks (clear the clutter from my desk, empty a trash can, etc.).

That makes these two activities a natural fit. If I arrange to do cleaning tasks during the rest intervals in my workout, that “sweetens the pot” for both tasks. I normally don’t like cleaning my office, and will put it off repeatedly. But, if I can make use of the dead times in my workout, it seems worthwhile, because there’s little else of value I would be able to do during those two-minute rest periods.

Multitasking can help us start a task we don’t want to do, and it can also keep us doing a task when we’ve grown impatient. When the car trip gets boring , we can play twenty-questions. When we get impatient waiting in line, we can strike up a conversation with a stranger.

And pot-sweetening is just one of the two main possible benefits of multitasking.

Law Six: It’s partly about setting picks.

In basketball, it’s easier to score when you’re not being harassed by an opponent. That’s why teammates will sometimes position themselves at a spot on the floor and just stand still. The player with the ball can then dribble close enough to the teammate that the shadowing defender must either run into the teammate, go around the teammate, or switch assignments with the teammate’s defender. Sometimes this allows the player with the ball to get off a clean shot. The teammate in this case is “setting a pick”.

Likewise, a well-chosen secondary task can “set a pick” for the primary task by blocking out potential distractors.

When we work on a task, our minds do many things. Parts of our mind are concerned with executing our primary task. They help us keep the goal in mind, make plans, execute those plans, work around obstacles, keep the right things in memory for easy access, and so on. These are “foreground” processes.

At the same time other parts of our mind are looking out for signs of danger, looping through other problems we are dealing with, monitoring our internal states, or looking for opportunities to switch to more rewarding tasks. These are “background processes”. And background processes have a way of getting us off track at times.

So here’s the thing. This is where we can use multitasking to our advantage. If we choose our secondary task wisely, it can compete for resources with background processes that might otherwise interrupt us. And that means the right task B can actually help us stay focused on task A. Here’s how we might formalize that strategy:

Background Process Interference Strategy: when background processes are likely to interrupt a primary task, try to find a secondary task that will compete for resources with the background processes, but not with the foreground processes.

In other words, use task B to “set a pick” for task A.

If you don’t like doing yard work, and you know that parts of your brain will be looking for more rewarding things to do, and will be sending a constant stream of rationalizations to your mind to try to get you to quit, then you can run interference by listening to a podcast. Listening to the podcast will compete with the background processes for a key resource (strategic thinking), but will not compete substantially for the resources being used by the primary task.

On the other hand, if you’re writing an essay, and you fear your background processes will be trying to get you to quit, setting a pick with a podcast won’t work as well. In that case, task B will interfere not only with the background processes but also with the foreground processes -- like a clumsy teammate who tries to set a pick and knocks over the ball-handler in the process.

Law Seven: It’s all about making trade-offs.

It should be clear by now that we can’t say full stop whether multitasking is good or bad. It all depends on features of task A, features of task B, how A and B interact, and what a person’s goals are.

When it’s important to do the primary task well (driving), we must be extra careful about switching costs and resource conflict (that’s why texting while driving is a terrible idea). When it’s not that important, we can be more relaxed about those costs, and be more open to some of the benefits of multitasking (watching television while folding clothes is probably fine).

Sometimes it will be important to do task A quickly (studying for a test the night before an exam) and sometimes it won’t matter too much how long it takes (folding laundry on an otherwise empty evening). When it’s important to do a task quickly, we must be extra concerned about switching costs (and we might opt for some mid-tempo instrumental music to help us focus and block out distractions while we study -- instead of watching a television program).

Sometimes we are motivated to do task A (playing a new video game), and sometimes we lack motivation (working out). When we lack motivation, a well-chosen task B might just sweeten the pot.

Sometimes we are so familiar with task A, we do much of it on “auto-pilot”. And sometimes task A takes our full attention. That’s why listening to a talk program on radio can be a good idea for an experienced driver, but a bad idea for a student just learning to drive.

Sometimes task A is complicated (writing an essay), and other times it’s simple (folding clothes). Switching costs are usually higher for complicated tasks.

And so, in order to tell whether a given case of multitasking is good or bad, we will have to weigh the costs against the benefits on a case by case basis.

Conclusion: some specific and useful strategies.

We’ve covered a lot of ground. Here are the key lessons in a nutshell:

We’ve seen that multitasking can be a bad idea when:

there are high switching costs
there is resource conflict between task A and task B

And we’ve seen that it can be a good idea when:

task B “sweetens the pot” for task A
task B can “set a pick” for task A

And we’ve seen that the wisdom of multitasking can also depend on other features of task A and task B:

how important it is to do them well
how familiar they are
how important it is to do them quickly
how motivated we are to do them
how complicated they are

Let’s finish with a few specific and useful ways to apply these lessons:

Multitasking can be dangerous. When it’s important to do task A well, we should be very careful about choosing a task B, and err on the side of caution. We should never text and drive, or talk on the phone while driving. And we should take steps to make sure our passengers will not distract us with rowdiness or emotionally challenging conversations (this is of special relevance for those of us with children).
Multitasking can hinder creative productivity . When working on a creative project that pushes us to the limits of our concentration, we should not multitask in ways that will expose us to interruptions of the primary activity (for example, while writing an essay, we should close our facebook, twitter, and email clients, and check them only after we’ve done a good chunk of creative work).
Multitasking can assist creative productivity. Well-chosen secondary tasks can set picks for our creative projects, and can help us maintain focus against background processes that might otherwise interrupt us (for instance while writing an essay in a coffee shop, we might listen to invigorating instrumental music to block out ambient noises, conversations, and internal signals of discomfort).
Multitasking can help us be more patient. We tend to grow impatient when we have a goal and we have just learned that it’s going to cost us more to reach our goal than we originally thought. And our tendency when we are impatient is to either try to find shortcuts or to abandon our goal for another goal. But sometimes the right course of action is to simply stay the course and absorb the extra costs. The right task B can both sweeten the pot, and set picks on those voices in our heads trying to get us to change course. For instance, we might talk with a stranger while waiting in line, so we don’t bolt, or listen to an audiobook while stuck in heavy traffic, so we don’t plot out risky and minimally productive lane-changing maneuvers (For more on impatience, see “The 7 Laws of Impatience” ).
Well-chosen music mixes with almost everything. Well-chosen music has a magical ability to both sweeten the pot and set picks for almost any activity -- while avoiding resource conflict and switching costs almost entirely. The music must be chosen carefully, so it does not provide resource conflict (for instance songs with lyrics might not be optimal for reading, and death metal might be a poor choice for meditation ). But there is usually a good choice for almost any activity. Some tasks might not mix well with any kind of music, but these will probably be rare for most people.

1 Ophir, Nass, Wagner, “Cognitive Control in Media Multitaskers”

2 Armstrong and Chung, “Background Television and Reading Memory in Context”

3 Richard P. Feynman “The pleasure of finding things out.” p. 19

4 Delthia Ricks, "Study: Texting while driving now leading cause of death for teen drivers"

Changing Our Brains

To better understand the multitasking phenomenon, neurologists and psychologists have studied the workings of the brain. In 1999, Jordan Grafman, chief of cognitive neuroscience at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (part of the National Institutes of Health), used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans to determine that when people engage in “task-switching” — that is, multitasking behavior — the flow of blood increases to a region of the frontal cortex called Brodmann area 10. (The flow of blood to particular regions of the brain is taken as a proxy indication of activity in those regions.) “This is presumably the last part of the brain to evolve, the most mysterious and exciting part,” Grafman told the New York Times in 2001 — adding, with a touch of hyperbole, “It’s what makes us most human.”

It is also what makes multitasking a poor long-term strategy for learning. Other studies, such as those performed by psychologist René Marois of Vanderbilt University, have used fMRI to demonstrate the brain’s response to handling multiple tasks. Marois found evidence of a “response selection bottleneck” that occurs when the brain is forced to respond to several stimuli at once. As a result, task-switching leads to time lost as the brain determines which task to perform. Psychologist David Meyer at the University of Michigan believes that rather than a bottleneck in the brain, a process of “adaptive executive control” takes place, which “schedules task processes appropriately to obey instructions about their relative priorities and serial order,” as he described to the New Scientist . Unlike many other researchers who study multitasking, Meyer is optimistic that, with training, the brain can learn to task-switch more effectively, and there is some evidence that certain simple tasks are amenable to such practice. But his research has also found that multitasking contributes to the release of stress hormones and adrenaline, which can cause long-term health problems if not controlled, and contributes to the loss of short-term memory.

In one recent study, Russell Poldrack, a psychology professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, found that “multitasking adversely affects how you learn. Even if you learn while multitasking, that learning is less flexible and more specialized, so you cannot retrieve the information as easily.” His research demonstrates that people use different areas of the brain for learning and storing new information when they are distracted: brain scans of people who are distracted or multitasking show activity in the striatum, a region of the brain involved in learning new skills; brain scans of people who are not distracted show activity in the hippocampus, a region involved in storing and recalling information. Discussing his research on National Public Radio recently, Poldrack warned, “We have to be aware that there is a cost to the way that our society is changing, that humans are not built to work this way. We’re really built to focus. And when we sort of force ourselves to multitask, we’re driving ourselves to perhaps be less efficient in the long run even though it sometimes feels like we’re being more efficient.”

If, as Poldrack concluded, “multitasking changes the way people learn,” what might this mean for today’s children and teens, raised with an excess of new entertainment and educational technology, and avidly multitasking at a young age? Poldrack calls this the “million-dollar question.” Media multitasking — that is, the simultaneous use of several different media, such as television, the Internet, video games, text messages, telephones, and e-mail — is clearly on the rise, as a 2006 report from the Kaiser Family Foundation showed: in 1999, only 16 percent of the time people spent using any of those media was spent on multiple media at once; by 2005, 26 percent of media time was spent multitasking. “I multitask every single second I am online,” confessed one study participant. “At this very moment I am watching TV, checking my e-mail every two minutes, reading a newsgroup about who shot JFK, burning some music to a CD, and writing this message.”

The Kaiser report noted several factors that increase the likelihood of media multitasking, including “having a computer and being able to see a television from it.” Also, “sensation-seeking” personality types are more likely to multitask, as are those living in “a highly TV-oriented household.” The picture that emerges of these pubescent multitasking mavens is of a generation of great technical facility and intelligence but of extreme impatience, unsatisfied with slowness and uncomfortable with silence: “I get bored if it’s not all going at once, because everything has gaps — waiting for a website to come up, commercials on TV, etc.” one participant said. The report concludes on a very peculiar note, perhaps intended to be optimistic: “In this media-heavy world, it is likely that brains that are more adept at media multitasking will be passed along and these changes will be naturally selected,” the report states. “After all, information is power, and if one can process more information all at once, perhaps one can be more powerful.” This is techno-social Darwinism, nature red in pixel and claw.

Other experts aren’t so sure. As neurologist Jordan Grafman told Time magazine: “Kids that are instant messaging while doing homework, playing games online and watching TV, I predict, aren’t going to do well in the long run.” “I think this generation of kids is guinea pigs,” educational psychologist Jane Healy told the San Francisco Chronicle ; she worries that they might become adults who engage in “very quick but very shallow thinking.” Or, as the novelist Walter Kirn suggests in a deft essay in The Atlantic , we might be headed for an “Attention-Deficit Recession.”

Paying Attention

When we talk about multitasking, we are really talking about attention: the art of paying attention, the ability to shift our attention, and, more broadly, to exercise judgment about what objects are worthy of our attention. People who have achieved great things often credit for their success a finely honed skill for paying attention. When asked about his particular genius, Isaac Newton responded that if he had made any discoveries, it was “owing more to patient attention than to any other talent.”

William James, the great psychologist, wrote at length about the varieties of human attention. In The Principles of Psychology (1890), he outlined the differences among “sensorial attention,” “intellectual attention,” “passive attention,” and the like, and noted the “gray chaotic indiscriminateness” of the minds of people who were incapable of paying attention. James compared our stream of thought to a river, and his observations presaged the cognitive “bottlenecks” described later by neurologists: “On the whole easy simple flowing predominates in it, the drift of things is with the pull of gravity, and effortless attention is the rule,” he wrote. “But at intervals an obstruction, a set-back, a log-jam occurs, stops the current, creates an eddy, and makes things temporarily move the other way.”

To James, steady attention was thus the default condition of a mature mind, an ordinary state undone only by perturbation. To readers a century later, that placid portrayal may seem alien — as though depicting a bygone world. Instead, today’s multitasking adult may find something more familiar in James’s description of the youthful mind: an “extreme mobility of the attention” that “makes the child seem to belong less to himself than to every object which happens to catch his notice.” For some people, James noted, this challenge is never overcome; such people only get their work done “in the interstices of their mind-wandering.” Like Chesterfield, James believed that the transition from youthful distraction to mature attention was in large part the result of personal mastery and discipline — and so was illustrative of character. “The faculty of voluntarily bringing back a wandering attention, over and over again,” he wrote, “is the very root of judgment, character, and will.”

Today, our collective will to pay attention seems fairly weak. We require advice books to teach us how to avoid distraction. In the not-too-distant future we may even employ new devices to help us overcome the unintended attention deficits created by today’s gadgets. As one New York Times article recently suggested, “Further research could help create clever technology, like sensors or smart software that workers could instruct with their preferences and priorities to serve as a high tech ‘time nanny’ to ease the modern multitasker’s plight.” Perhaps we will all accept as a matter of course a computer governor — like the devices placed on engines so that people can’t drive cars beyond a certain speed. Our technological governors might prompt us with reminders to set mental limits when we try to do too much, too quickly, all at once.

Then again, perhaps we will simply adjust and come to accept what James called “acquired inattention.” E-mails pouring in, cell phones ringing, televisions blaring, podcasts streaming — all this may become background noise, like the “din of a foundry or factory” that James observed workers could scarcely avoid at first, but which eventually became just another part of their daily routine. For the younger generation of multitaskers, the great electronic din is an expected part of everyday life. And given what neuroscience and anecdotal evidence have shown us, this state of constant intentional self-distraction could well be of profound detriment to individual and cultural well-being. When people do their work only in the “interstices of their mind-wandering,” with crumbs of attention rationed out among many competing tasks, their culture may gain in information, but it will surely weaken in wisdom.

Delivered to your inbox:

Humane dissent from technocracy

Exhausted by science and tech debates that go nowhere?

Spring 2008

Share full article

Supported by

Guest Essay

Stop Multitasking. No, Really — Just Stop It.

A blue octopus reading an orange book, in front of an orange background.

By Oliver Burkeman

Mr. Burkeman is the author of “Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals.”

A few months ago, I was teetering on the brink of feeling overwhelmed by life’s responsibilities, afflicted by the ambient anxiety that seems to be an intrinsic part of life in the 2020s. In an effort to maintain — or maybe restore — my sanity, I embarked on a personal endurance challenge.

Other people, at similar moments, begin competing in grueling triathlons or head off on intensive meditation retreats. Me? I decided to give up listening to podcasts or music while running or driving or loading the dishwasher or doing almost anything else. To just focus, in other words, on what it was I was actually doing, one activity at a time.

It was surprisingly hard. Once you’ve finished mocking me for treating such a trifling alteration to my habits like a grand existential struggle, I have one request: Try it. Identify the small tricks you use to avoid being fully present with whatever you’re doing and put them aside for a week or two.

You may discover, as I did, that you were unwittingly addicted to not doing one thing at a time. You might even come to agree with me that restoring our capacity to live sequentially — that is, focusing on one thing after another, in turn, and enduring the confrontation with our human limitations that this inherently entails — may be among the most crucial skills for thriving in the uncertain, crisis-prone future we all face.

It’s not that the urge to multitask is anything new. “One thinks with a watch in one’s hand,” Nietzsche complained as early as 1887 , “even as one eats one’s midday meal while reading the latest news of the stock market.” We’ve also long known that multitasking doesn’t really work. You’ve probably read — perhaps while half-watching TV — articles explaining the research findings that multitasking isn’t really even possible; mainly, we’re just switching our attention rapidly between different foci without realizing it, incurring cognitive costs each time we do so. One study of drivers found only 2.5 percent of people showed no performance decrease when attempting two tasks at once. The rest of us just end up doing everything worse.

Yet the pressure to multitask can still often seem like something imposed on us from outside. Burdened by so many demands at work, you can feel as though you’ve no choice but to split your attention among them. Meanwhile, should you feel some responsibility to address the troubles of the wider world as well, then the causes for alarm — the climate, the fate of democracy, the threats from artificial intelligence and the risk of nuclear war, to name just a few — are so numerous as to make multitasking look like every citizen’s duty.

Technological advances turn the screw further. Those of us not raised as digital natives can remember a time when we didn’t have the option of using social media to distract ourselves from unpleasant tasks and when the limits imposed by our tools — the speed of snail mail, for example, or the time it took to visit a library to conduct research — meant we felt less pressure from bosses or customers to somehow transcend the limits imposed by our finite attention spans.

But philosophers and spiritual teachers have long understood that the urge to avoid giving ourselves fully to any single activity goes deeper, to the core of our struggles as finite human beings.

The Hindu mystic Patanjali, for example, saw doing one thing at a time as a core yogic discipline , suggesting that it didn’t come easily to people 2,000 years ago, either. We rail against what the Christian productivity writer Jordan Raynor calls our “ unipresence ” — our inability to be in more than one place at a time, in contrast to the omnipresence attributed to God — and against the shortness of our time on earth, which averages little more than four thousand weeks. All this finitude feels unpleasantly constraining, because it means there will always be many more things we could do than we ever will do — and that the choice to spend a portion of our time on any one thing automatically entails the sacrifice of countless other things we might have done with it.

This explains the attraction of multitasking: It offers the false promise that we might somehow slip the bonds of our finitude. We tell ourselves that with sufficient self-discipline, plus the right time-management tricks, we might finally get on top of everything and feel good about ourselves at last. This utopia never arrives, of course, though it often feels as if it might be just around the corner.

The uncomfortable truth is that the only way to find sanity in an overwhelming world — and to have any concrete effect on that world — is to surrender such efforts to escape the human condition and drop back down into the reality of our limitations. Distracting yourself from challenging tasks by, say, listening to podcasts doesn’t actually make them more bearable over the long term; instead, it makes them less enjoyable, by reinforcing your belief that they’re the sort of activities you can tolerate only by distracting yourself — while at the same time all but ensuring that you’ll neither accomplish the task in question nor digest the contents of the podcast as well as you otherwise might.

At work, the way to get more tasks done is to learn to let most of them wait while you focus on one. “This is the ‘secret’ of those people who ‘do so many things’ and apparently so many difficult things,” wrote the management guru Peter Drucker in his book “The Effective Executive.” “They do only one at a time.” Making a difference in one domain requires giving yourself permission not to care equally about all the others.

There will always be too much to do, no matter what you do. But the ironic upside of this seemingly dispiriting fact is that you needn’t beat yourself up for failing to do it all, nor keep pressuring yourself to find ways to get on top of it all by means of increasingly extreme multitasking.

Instead, you can pour your finite time, energy and attention into a handful of things that truly count. You’ll enjoy things more in the bargain. My gratifying new ability to be here now while running or driving or cooking dinner isn’t the result of having developed any great spiritual prowess. Rather, it’s a matter of realizing I could only ever be here now anyway — so I might as well give up the stressful struggle to pretend otherwise.

Oliver Burkeman is the author of “Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals.”

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips . And here’s our email: [email protected] .

Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook , Twitter (@NYTopinion) and Instagram .

Yale University
About Yale Insights
Privacy Policy
Accessibility

The Illusion of Multitasking Improves Performance on Simple Tasks

Multitasking is inefficient—but we feel like we’re getting so much done. In a new study, Yale SOM’s Gal Zauberman and his co-authors harnessed this mistaken impression, showing that when subjects believed that they were multitasking, they performed better on simple tasks.

Sean David Williams

Gal Zauberman Joseph F. Cullman 3rd Professor of Marketing

By Dylan Walsh

The word “multitasking” first arose in 1965 , in reference to using a single computer to simultaneously carry out two or more jobs. As computers became more ubiquitous, the idea of multitasking drifted into the realm of human affairs: we answer emails in meetings, we scan Twitter while streaming a movie, we play video games while chatting with friends. Being a multitasker is a point of pride for many, implying mental agility and exemplary productivity.

The problem is that multitasking, at least for humans, doesn’t work. “We know from the psychology literature that multitasking is bad for you,” says Gal Zauberman, a professor of marketing at Yale SOM. Research shows that we can’t really do two things at once. We’re actually switching our attention back and forth between the two tasks—and we perform worse at both.

On the other hand, Zauberman notes, people enjoy multitasking; they like to think of themselves as multitaskers because of what it connotes. For Zauberman and two colleagues, Shalena Srna at the University of Michigan and Rom Schrift at the University of Pennsylvania, this raised an intriguing prospect: could the illusion of multitasking be spun to positive ends?

“We know that when people are geared up for a task, they’re more engaged,” he says, “and so they are more likely to focus and do better at it.” If people simply perceive what they’re doing as multitasking, instead of a single complex task, could this perception improve their performance? The answer, in the right context, is yes.

Read the study: “The Illusion of Multitasking and Its Positive Effect on Performance”

In one study, Zauberman and his colleagues recruited people to watch a video from Animal Planet’s “Shark Week,” then split the participants into two groups. One group, the “multitaskers,” was told that they would work on two tasks concurrently: a learning task, which centered on what they learned from the video, and a transcribing task, which required them to transcribe the voiceover from the video. The other group performed exactly the same tasks, but it was framed as a single activity: watching and transcribing the video. The experiment concluded with a surprise, multiple-choice quiz about the content of the video.

Participants assigned to the multitasking group performed the work better in all dimensions: they transcribed more words, they were more accurate in their transcriptions, and they performed better on the quiz. “The most fundamental finding is that when you take the exact same activity between these two groups you find that those who believe they are multitasking are more engaged and perform better than those who believe they’re doing a single task,” Zauberman says.

Zauberman and his colleagues ran a total of 32 experiments to confirm this effect. In two studies, they even used eye-tracking equipment to deduce, through pupil dilation, engagement with a task, providing a measure of engagement that was more objective than participants’ self-reports. The team then performed a meta-analysis of all the experimental results. Their findings remained unchanged: when people believed they were multitasking they were more focused and performed more ably.

“I was amazed at how consistent the effect was,” Zauberman says. Often, he notes, the emergence of a subtle psychological effect relies on a very specific experimental paradigm. “But here, over and over and over again, across many different designs, the effect showed up, which allows us to be fairly confident that what we claim to be happening is in fact happening.”

This work fits squarely in line with much of Zauberman’s other research studying the ways in which engagement with a task can influence the outcome. For example, he has found that taking pictures , by causing us to engage more deeply with an experience, can make that experience more enjoyable.

In this case, the perception that we are multitasking helps engage us with the work we’re doing, and so we carry it out with greater focus. But Zauberman offers a cautionary note: “It’s really important that readers do not get confused and assume that multitasking is beneficial,” he says. “Doing multiple distinct tasks at one time is still not a good thing and it will not lead to greater performance and satisfaction. I don’t want these results to push people toward multitasking.”

Indeed, in Zauberman’s experiments, the subjects weren’t really multitasking at all. The tasks they performed were designed to be neatly aligned with one another: watching and transcribing, for example, or performing two word puzzles side-by-side. But when we do multitask in ordinary life, the two tasks—say, watching a movie and reading a book—are often very different in their cognitive demands.

“How close or far the nature of one task is from another could have a big effect on the outcome,” Zauberman says. “In all of our experiments, they were reasonably close, but it’s critical to understand how the components of each task moderate the effects that we found.”

25 Multitasking Examples

multitasking examples and definition, explained below

Multitasking refers to the art of doing two tasks simultaneously. It is believed to be a desirable skill in a fast-paced world, but has also been critiqued for causing high cognitive load and decreasing task performance (Calderwood et al., 2014; Rosen, 2008; Salvucci & Taatgen, 2010).

The term originates from computer processing, referring to the ability of a machine to execute more than one task at the same time.

Today, however, this concept tends to describe human behavior, where an individual engages in multiple tasks simultaneously or alternates rapidly between tasks.

Rresearch has shown that humans don’t actually conduct multiple cognitive tasks at the same time, despite the perception (Rosen, 2008). Instead, we switch our attention from one task to another very rapidly, giving the illusion of simultaneous multitasking. This act of rapidly shifting attention tends to cause high cognitive load and lead to exhaustion and errors.

Types of Multitasking

Multitasking encompasses several different methods of task management, falling into four general categories: concurrent, serial, background, and cognitive multitasking.

Concurrent multitasking refers to carrying out multiple tasks simultaneously. You might see a chef preparing multiple dishes at a time, carefully monitoring each process (Calderwood et al., 2014).
Serial multitasking involves switching between tasks quickly. An example is a driver changing the radio station while keeping an eye on the road and handling the steering wheel (Carrier et al., 2015).
Background multitasking allows one task to run in the “background” while a person focuses on another task. An instance is listening to music while writing a report, where the music serves as background stimulus but does not require active attention.
Cognitive multitasking is different as it involves handling or thinking about multiple cognitive tasks simultaneously, which is usually discouraged (Carrier et al., 2015). An example might be a student trying to work on a math problem while writing an English essay (which would likely result in errors in one or both tasks).

Each of these forms of multitasking presents its own challenges and benefits, but they all require substantial cognitive effort. They also all carry the potential for divided attention and mistakes, especially when the tasks require high levels of cognitive engagement.

Multitasking Examples

1. Cooking a Full Meal (Type – Concurrent): Preparing multiple dishes simultaneously is a common example of concurrent multitasking. This could involve chopping vegetables, monitoring pots on the stove, and checking the oven, all at the same time. This method maximizes kitchen productivity, but the downside is the high potential for mistakes due to divided attention. One can forget a key ingredient or overcook a dish while attending to another.

2. Online Meeting and Email Response (Type – Serial): Switching between listening to an online work meeting and responding to professional emails is a form of serial multitasking. It may seem efficient as you appear to get two tasks done at once, but the quality of work may suffer. Attention to both tasks is split, making it difficult to contribute effectively to the meeting or respond comprehensively to emails.

3. Driving and Listening to an Audiobook (Type – Background): While driving, some people listen to audiobooks. Here, the primary task is operating the vehicle safely, while the audiobook runs in the background. It has the advantage of enhancing the driving experience or making it more enjoyable without subtracting from the primary focus (driving). However, in intense traffic or complex driving conditions, the audiobook can become a distraction.

4. Studying while Watching Television (Type – Cognitive): It’s not uncommon for students to engage in cognitive multitasking like studying for an exam while watching TV. This is typically not advisable as both tasks demand high cognitive engagement. The act of studying necessitates attention to detail and comprehension, which TV-watching undermines with constant stimulus and calls for processing new information. The result could be poor understanding and retention of studied materials (Calderwood et al., 2014).

5. Conference Call and Sketch Noting (Type – Concurrent): Business professionals often engage in concurrent multitasking during conference calls by making sketch notes. The visual act of sketching information can support cognitive processing and assist in memory retention. However, the risk is that complex information could be missed or misinterpreted if the attention is significantly divided between the call and the sketching process.

6. Social Media Scrolling and Online Shopping (Type – Serial): Serial multitasking is common online, such as when one alternates between scrolling through a social media feed and browsing in an online store. While it might offer a sort of entertainment variety, constantly switching between the two tasks could lead to an oversight like missing an essential post or wrongly ordering an item.

7. Listening to Background Music while Writing an Essay (Type – Background): It’s quite typical for students to listen to music while writing essays, thinking it aids concentration. As a form of background multitasking, it can indeed provide a pleasant background that doesn’t require active engagement. However, if the music is too loud, contains lyrics, or differs significantly from the individual’s usual taste, it can become a distraction and reduce the quality of the writing.

8. Planning a Vacation while Working on a Budget (Type – Cognitive): Attempting to plan a vacation while concurrently working on a home budget falls under cognitive multitasking. This is generally not recommended as both tasks require significant mental focus and calculating abilities. Mistakes are likely to happen in either or both activities, such as overlooking a cost item in the budget, or making wrong travel bookings.

9. Juggling Multiple Patients (Type – Concurrent): Healthcare professionals often engage in concurrent multitasking, such as when a nurse monitors multiple patients at once. This practice can enhance efficiency , allowing the nurse to attend to more patients in a shorter time frame. However, the risk is high, as divided attention could lead to mistakes or oversights with serious health consequences.

10. Writing a Report and Checking Stock Market (Type – Serial): An investment professional may switch between writing a financial report and checking the stock market. This serial multitasking may seem efficient, enabling the individual to stay updated while also producing work. However, rapidly switching focus can lead to reduced accuracy in both the report and the interpretation of market trends.

11. Running on a Treadmill and Watching the News (Type – Background): People often watch television while doing physical exercises like walking or running on a treadmill. As an example of background multitasking, this act provides entertainment without detracting from the primary task. The only risk is that intensive news topics can stimulate emotional reactions, which might impact the workout rhythm.

12. Math Homework and Composing a Poem (Type – Cognitive): A student who tries to solve math problems while composing a poem is engaged in cognitive multitasking, which requires splitting one’s cognitive attention between two complex, unrelated tasks. Such multitasking typically hinders productivity and quality of work, potentially leading to both incorrect calculations and a fragmented poem.

13. Gardening and Supervising Kids (Type – Concurrent): An adult could be pulling weeds or planting while keeping an eye on children playing nearby. As a form of concurrent multitasking, it allows for efficiency in completing household chores while ensuring the safety of the kids. The downside is that serious accidents can happen in a split second if the supervising adult is too absorbed in the task at hand and gets momentarily distracted.

14. Program Coding and Software Debugging (Type – Serial): A software developer may switch between writing new program codes and debugging existing programs. This kind of serial multitasking can lead to productivity in a time-pressured environment. However, it can also result in overlooked coding errors and insufficient debugging due to the rapidly alternating focus.

15. Listening to Podcasts while Doing Laundry (Type – Background): Many people listen to informational podcasts as they perform routine tasks like doing laundry. As a form of background multitasking, it can make the chore more enjoyable and educational. However, if the podcast contains complex discussions, it might distract from properly sorting, washing, or folding the clothes, or vice versa.

16. Revising An Article while Brainstorming for Another (Type – Cognitive): An author might try to revise one article while brainstorming ideas for a new one. This type of cognitive multitasking usually hinders both the revision process and the generation of quality ideas. Insufficient attention to detail in the revision could lead to overlooked errors, while distraction from brainstorming could result in limited or superficial ideas for the new article.

17. Sales Event and Customer Interaction (Type – Concurrent): A retail salesperson often manages multiple customer interactions while ensuring the smooth operation of a promotional event. This type of multitasking can be challenging, especially during peak shopping hours when customer demands intensify, but can also stimulate a dynamic sales environment and potentially drive up revenue.

18. Online Discussion and Document Review (Type – Serial): Switching between an online discussion and reviewing a related document is a common practice in digital workspaces. While this type of serial multitasking enables quick information sharing and feedback, constant attention shift can reduce comprehension and feedback quality.

19. Reading a Book and Listening to Instrumental Music (Type – Background): Many people love to supplement reading with ambient or instrumental music. As a form of background multitasking, this combination often enriches the reading experience and supports concentration, unless the music becomes too intrusive or the book too demanding, which could mean only one can be effectively engaged with.

20. Studying Two Different Subjects simultaneously (Type – Cognitive): Trying to study for a history exam while solving chemistry equations is an instance of cognitive multitasking. The task switches between unrelated contexts and cognitive demands, likely resulting in both poor historical understanding and incorrect chemical calculations.

21. Tutoring and Lesson Planning (Type – Concurrent): A private tutor might be teaching one student while planning the next session for another. A concurrent form of multitasking, it can utilize time effectively allowing for immediate implementation of planned lessons. However, divided attention could result in overlooking a student’s difficulty in learning or a poorly-constructed plan for the next session.

22. Navigating Traffic and Changing the Radio Station (Type – Serial): It’s common for drivers to adjust music or other devices while focusing on traffic, a form of serial multitasking. It keeps the driving experience enjoyable but can be dangerous if the secondary task draws too much attention away from the primary task of safe driving.

23. Working Out and Monitoring Heart Rate (Type – Background): Many fitness enthusiasts monitor their heart rate while engaging in workouts. It’s a form of background multitasking allowing them to optimize their exercise intensity. But if the exercise is particularly demanding, they may neglect proper monitoring, leading to potential health risks.

24. Preparing a Speech while Checking Emails (Type – Cognitive): This example of cognitive multitasking might seem efficient on the surface but usually results in reduced quality in both tasks. Important nuances for the speech can be missed or poorly constructed, and emails might be misunderstood or improperly responded to due to divided attention.

25. Managing Employee Performance and Organizing Company Events (Type – Concurrent): An HR manager might oversee employee productivity while planning corporate events. This concurrent multitasking can ensure efficient operations but could risk neglecting details in performance reports or event planning, meaning both aspects might suffer.

Pros and Cons of Multitasking

The benefits and drawbacks of multitasking vary. On the positive side, multitasking can increase stimulation and reduce boredom, particularly when performing routine tasks. However, the downsides may include reduced concentration, higher levels of stress and mistakes due to divided attention.

Multitasking skills are often required in today’s fast-paced environment. However, it’s important to recognize when multitasking is beneficial and when it’s actually detrimental to the task at hand. For instance, while it’s possible to listen to a podcast whilst doing house chores, trying to respond to emails while attending a meeting could lead to mistakes and misunderstanding.

Criticisms of Multitasking Theory

The efficacy of multitasking is a topic of debate. While it can sometimes increase productivity, studies indicate that switching rapidly between tasks can decrease accuracy and efficiency (Rosen, 2008).

This can be understood through the example of a student attempting to study for an exam while continually checking their social media feed (Calderwood et al., 2014). The cognitive shift from deep learning to the superficial engagement of social media can result in inadequate comprehension and retention of study materials.

Multitasking is a common practice that has both positive and negative aspects. It’s crucial to assess individual capabilities and the specific demands of each task to determine the best approach, whether it be targeted focus or a multitasking method.

Calderwood, C., Ackerman, P. L., & Conklin, E. M. (2014). What else do college students “do” while studying? An investigation of multitasking. Computers & Education , 75 , 19-29.

Carrier, L. M., Rosen, L. D., Cheever, N. A., & Lim, A. F. (2015). Causes, effects, and practicalities of everyday multitasking. Developmental Review , 35 , 64-78. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dr.2014.12.005

Mark, G. (2022). Multitasking in the digital age . New York: Springer Nature.

Rosen, C. (2008). The myth of multitasking. The New Atlantis , (20), 105-110. Doi: https://www.jstor.org/stable/43152412

Salvucci, D. D., & Taatgen, N. A. (2010). The multitasking mind . Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Schuch, S., Dignath, D., Steinhauser, M., & Janczyk, M. (2019). Monitoring and control in multitasking. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review , 26 , 222-240. doi: https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-018-1512-z

Watson, J. M., & Strayer, D. L. (2010). Supertaskers: Profiles in extraordinary multitasking ability. Psychonomic bulletin & review , 17 , 479-485. Doi: https://doi.org/10.3758/PBR.17.4.479

Chris Drew (PhD)

Dr. Chris Drew is the founder of the Helpful Professor. He holds a PhD in education and has published over 20 articles in scholarly journals. He is the former editor of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education. [Image Descriptor: Photo of Chris]

Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ Social-Emotional Learning (Definition, Examples, Pros & Cons)
Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ What is Educational Psychology?
Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ What is IQ? (Intelligence Quotient)
Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 5 Top Tips for Succeeding at University

Most Popular

13 days ago

How to Write a Position Paper

How to reference a movie in an essay, is gen z actually lazy this admission consultant doesn’t think so, zoterobib review.

12 days ago

How to Write a Hypothesis

Multitasking essay sample, example.

Multitasking is not what everyone thinks it is—simultaneous work in several different directions. In fact, multitasking should be called “task switching.” According to Guy Winch, PhD and the author of the book “Emotional First Aid: Practical Strategies for Treating Failure, Rejection, Guilt and Other Everyday Psychological Injuries,” our brains are not capable of maintaining constant attention towards several objects at once. “It’s like a pie chart, and whatever we’re working on is going to take up the majority of that pie. There’s not a lot left over for other things, with the exception of automatic behaviors like walking or chewing gum,” Guy Winch says (Health.com). So, a person has to constantly switch from one activity to another, without getting themselves fully engaged in at least one of them.

If you think this is productive, you are wrong. The negative effect of multitasking on productivity has been proven by numerous researchers; one of the most recent experiments proving this statement has been conducted by the researcher Zhen Wang. The participants of her experiment who were told to do several things simultaneously displayed an increased feeling of being pleased with themselves, and in these terms multitasking might be beneficial; however, when it came to evaluating the results of the tasks these people were to accomplish, it turned out they are much worse compared to people who were free to prioritize their activities and do things one at a time (Lifehack.org).

Multitasking being bad for work is just half of the problem; the second half of it lies in the fact that spreading your energy on several tasks at once is detrimental not just for your productivity, but for yourself as well. Over-stimulation caused by your brain being constantly bombarded by incoming external stimulation (such as phone calls, requests, new tasks, and so on) puts you at risk of becoming unable to distinguish what is important and what is not. In 2009, a group of researchers from Stanford University led by Clifford Nass, PhD, figured out that multitasking participants were distracted the most by unimportant information stored in their short-term memory; multitasking people also tend to forget their tasks’ details, thus becoming less able to perform them well. Besides, multitasking leads to the increase of stress levels, burnout, employee absences, disability, and so on (Chron). Therefore, sometimes it can be useful for office workers to turn off notifications on their smartphones, and pay all their attention to one task at a time.

Efficient multitasking is a myth brought to life by employers’ desire to have fewer workers who would do more work in the same amounts of time. Multitasking is nothing else but switching between tasks, as the human brain is not capable of maintaining attention on different tasks for a long time. Research shows that multitasking does not lead to an increase of productivity; on the contrary, multitasking workers show worse results compared to their non-multitasking colleagues; they also tend to have problems with memory and display increased stress levels, which inhibits workers’ morale and leads to their absences and other negative effects. Therefore, employers and employees should stop deceiving themselves, and return to the good old way of working: one task at a time.

“12 Reasons to Stop Multitasking Now!” Health.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Oct. 2015.

“Why Multitasking is Bad for You.” Lifehack. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Oct. 2015.

“Bad Effects of Multitasking.” Chron. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Oct. 2015.

Comments (0)

Welcome to A*Help comments!

We’re all about debate and discussion at A*Help.

We value the diverse opinions of users, so you may find points of view that you don’t agree with. And that’s cool. However, there are certain things we’re not OK with: attempts to manipulate our data in any way, for example, or the posting of discriminative, offensive, hateful, or disparaging material.

Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

More from Expository Essay Examples and Samples

Nov 23 2023

Why Is Of Mice And Men Banned

Nov 07 2023

Pride and Prejudice Themes

May 10 2023

Remote Collaboration and Evidence Based Care Essay Sample, Example

Related writing guides, writing an expository essay.

Remember Me

Is English your native language ? Yes No

What is your profession ? Student Teacher Writer Other

Forgotten Password?

Username or Email

Pros And Cons Of Multitasking | Benefits and Disadvantages

Avantika Bhardwaj

Imagine it’s Sunday night and you’re on your laptop with few browser windows open. Now, your email inbox gets flooded with the tasks unfinished and now you’re going to rush things to get it done. These multiple tabs, you keep them switching; so, in other words, you’re multitasking.

Talking practically, there’s no such thing as Multitasking.

As multiple studies have confirmed, true multitasking— doing more than one task at the same time —is a myth. People who think they can split their attention between multiple tasks at once aren’t actually getting more done. In fact, they’re doing less, getting more stressed out, and performing worse than those who single-task.

What is Multitasking? PROS Of Multitasking CONS Of Multitasking

What is Multitasking?

Multitasking is a term used to define the performance of more than one task at the same time. In other words, when a person is juggling with a lot of a task or switching between one task to another, it is known as multitasking. Multitasking can be a boon or a bane depending on various factors.

Thinking of multitasking as simply “doing two difficult things at once” doesn’t tell the full story. Instead, there are three forms of multitasking you need to be aware of:

Multitasking (attempting to do two or more tasks simultaneously)
Context switching (switching back and forth between tasks)
Attention residue (performing a number of tasks in rapid succession)

Everything has its positive and negative sides. Multitasking too has pros and cons. A few of them are listed below.

PROS Of Multitasking

Benefits of Multitasking are pointed below:

Multitasking helps you achieve your goals in a shorter period of time. A professional can finish multiple tasks at the same time another gets one task done. There are many tasks that each of us has to do on a regular basis and taking out a separate hour for daily works be like a fool’s business. So, these sorts of tasks need multitasking.
Not every task a successful person does generates values or money. Many tasks are facilitative or just things one has to do. These simple and mundane tasks, often excess and needless, don’t have any impact on the bottom line of the company or that of the professional. In a good way, multitasking increases productivity when the same time can be spent on work that will bring in more revenue or have a tangible impact on the company’s or individual’s fortunes.
Since multitasking is in high demand, so a person has to be clearly focused on each and every task at hand to get them done and not just done but done right. This creates your mental focus on your tasks and so it helps in mental strengthening. One gets trained to switch from one task to another, thus enabling flexibility in focus. Such a level of focus and ability to switch also increase resilience. Given the world we live in and work in, there is constant chatter everywhere. With distractions galore, one can do with a bit more focus and resilience.
Slow and steady progress is what typically wins the race. That’s what multitasking can help someone do for multiple tasks simultaneously. So, when there is a specific deadline that must be met for multiple projects, multitasking can help to make it possible for everything to be turned in on time. Despite what our needs might be at times, there are still only 24 hours to any given day.
There are numerous sources of information that come to people every day in a wide variety of ways. No longer is the daily morning meeting the one place to get tasks that need to be completed. Instant messages, emails, text messages, and other forms of communication make it possible for anyone to get in touch with someone virtually anywhere in the world. Instead of being bothered by a boss that’s 3 cubicles down and distracted by their demands, anyone with an internet connection can create a distraction. By multitasking these events, it becomes possible to create a structure of sanity in a world of information that is truly chaotic.

CONS Of Multitasking

Though, there are many benefits of Multitasking, some of the major disadvantages of multitasking are mentioned below:

Multitasking is working hastily, so it is quite obvious that the efficiency of the work gets decreased normally. Increased production in timeless than it normally takes can lead to a serious compromise in quality.
Multitasking is quite distracting. Because, when a person tries to focus on a single task; they get distracted. This sort of distraction can become chronic and can affect your mental health too. Simple or singular tasks may not draw enough focus and one may be drawn to minor tasks that are repetitive and what can be automated or done swiftly without much brainwork.
Multitasking does not segregate tasks normally and so the priority or significant work gets on the side lane. It enables a misconception that a person can get a task done anytime and anyway. This sows procrastination.
The act of switching between one task to another creates a time gap, even in those that are well versed in the skill of multitasking. The average amount of time it takes someone to switch tasks is 15 minutes. Our brains work a lot like computers. You’ve got to shut down one app to open up another app or switch between them if they both can be open and there’s no getting around this fact.
Multitasking through modern technology has become so prevalent for some that they’ve lost their interpersonal skills . People have social needs that technology just can’t replace. Sometimes you’ve got to speak with someone in order to get something accomplished in the correct way and emails are not a substitute for an actual phone call. Too much multitasking makes someone an island, even if they are surrounded by others.

From this, one could say that when multitasking can help you get your work done then at the same time it can debase your interpersonal skills and your efficiency. You just have to know that the modern era not only demands the work to get it done but what it checks is how efficiently you do it. The Multitasking rule doesn't rely everywhere and doing it not makes you the GURU. Learn to do things efficiently and never compromise on the quality of your work.

Is multitasking good?

Multitasking has Benefits as well as disadvantages.

What are the benefits of multitasking?

The benefits of Multitasking are:

It increases efficiency
It increases productivity
It frees up more time
It can save you money

What are the disadvantages of multitasking?

Some disadvantages of multitasking are:

Excessive stress and Burnout
Multitasking may lead to mental health concerns
Multitasking can lower your overall efficiency

Why is multitasking important?

Multitasking skills are important because they create an efficient work environment. It helps save time by allowing you to complete multiple tasks concurrently.

Must have tools for startups - Recommended by StartupTalky

Manage your business smoothly- Google Workspace

Nykaa Business Model | How Does Nykaa Make Money?

Are you aware of any lucrative eCommerce platforms from the last ten years? Technically, no. As they were either bought, as Walmart did with Flipkart, or they were categorized as Infibeam. However, none of them succeeded on their own. In the last decade, over 20 online stores have attempted their

The Future of Brokerage Platforms: AI Integration and Enhanced Trading Capabilities

This article has been contributed by Kartik Chhaya, COO of Rupeeseed. In today's rapidly evolving financial landscape, brokerage platforms are undergoing a transformative shift driven by advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) technology. The integration of AI into brokerage platforms is revolutionizing the way brokers and investors engage with financial markets,

Best AI Email Writing Tools for Professional Communication Enhancement

Crafting an official email is no easy feat; doing it well calls for laser-like concentration and meticulous word choice. True professionalism is reflected in an error-free email, which in turn promotes a positive image of the brand. Contrarily, a brand's credibility takes a serious hit when an email has numerous

5 Key Insights for Developers and Startups in 2024

2023 was an amazing year for technology, introducing many to AI, metaverse, blockchain, and more. Buckle up your seatbelts, though, as 2024 will take you on another journey of trends, showcasing the everchanging backdrop of technological advancements. From 5G to the blockchain, let’s see what’s in stock for

Essay About Multitasking

Multitasking – “the ability to do several different things at once” Nowadays, people prefer to divide people in two groups; people who masters to multitask, and those who can’t. Almost everyone place themselves in the former group, thereafter they put the rest of the people in the latter. But of course most people are lying. I personally take advantage of multitasking daily to a certain extent, yes, practically all the time – in a certain level. And my perception of multitasking is the same as http://www. google. no/ ‘s perception on what multitasking is; it’s simply to have the ability to do several different things at once.

But something that should be mentioned here is that no one can really multitask. It's when we think we're multitasking; we're only jumping from one thing to another. This way of doing things is addictive and can of course eventually cause us difficulties among our ability to concentrate. With other word; it is physically impossible for a human to do two things at the same time. Then, I don’t mean that it is completely impossible to do two things at the same time; such as talking while walking, or smiling while dancing.

No, I mean that it is impossible to multitask - to do two things at the same time - as long as the two things that should be done at the same time, requires a lot of concentration and attention to be done correct. I guess you yourself are able to distinguish between which tasks that requires a lot of concentration, and which requires less. Whether you're driving a car while talking on the phone, or if you write e-mails during meetings, it is not true that you do both at once - it's impossible. Unlike the other examples I’ve already mentioned.

Order custom essay Essay About Multitasking with free plagiarism report

What you actually do when you’re doing the concentration demanding-tasks is to focus on the first one and then the other, a so-called "switch-tasking". Because if you’re doing two concentration demanding things at once , of course your concentration is divided between to tasks at the same time – therefore the result of your actions won’t be as good as they could’ve been - if the tasks were done separately and thoroughly. It's been proven time after time over the last years: multitasking is something only computers can do.

What we humans do, when we think that we’re "multitasking", is to jump from doing one thing to another, as mentioned earlier. But let us not forget that there's one more group; those who need to multitask. I'd most probably put myself in that group - the group of people who can't concentrate and focus on one specific thing unless she or he is doing at least one more thing at the exact same time. Now, you may call it ADHD, while I would rather call it being efficient.

Of course there’s possible to listen to music while you’re doing your homework – to exclude the other actions around you, and to increase your concentration, like I personally do. But also here, the perceptions are different. Some people find hearing music while doing homework as disturbing. I think that the perception and the results of multitasking are different from person to person, depending on whom the person concerned is and what tasks there is to be done. A day should absolutely have more hours so all tasks on the to-do-list could’ve been done!

But that isn’t something we can change… so I think that the only thing we can do is to make the best out of it and remember to relax now and then.

http://m. theglobeandmail. com/report-on-business/careers/careers-leadership/the-lunch/eileen-mercier-its-all-about-multitasking/article2021801/? service=mobile
http://www. klikk. no/kvinneguiden/helse/article761396. ece
http://www. universityessays. com/example-essays/business/the-ethics-of-multitasking. php
http://www. webopedia. com/TERM/M/multitasking. html http://www. tinbergen. nl/discussionpapers/11044. pdf

Cite this Page

Essay About Multitasking. (2017, Mar 04). Retrieved from https://phdessay.com/essay-about-multitasking/

Run a free check or have your essay done for you

More related essays

Some believe that whatever happens during the course of their lives is inevitable and every event destined and laid out before them like a map to their life; in other.

When writing an argumentative essay, a student must first choose a topic. The topic must be one that has two sides to it, and ideally, will have supporters for both.

Some think it is fun. Some people think it is dangerous. So, what is skateboarding? This is a very good topic for a skateboard essay. What exactly can you consider.

Short essay writing is often practiced in large classes. Students are asked to present their critical view point, consider some ideas or review information. Writing short essays exclude extended time-consuming.

Technology and its Bad Effect on FamiliesImagine holding so much engineering that your childs start to believe of it as their female parent and male parent. The narrative “The Veldt”.

The reactions of characters towards a turning planetary civilization. whether a retreat or an embracing. are to a great extent influenced by personal picks. Within the sphere of Voyaging the.

About all of us can state we are kids of immigrants. Either our great grandparents or grandparents came to America for a better life. We know that the Statue of.

If I have the opportunity, I Will have my child educated in the US. There are three reasons for this. First, my child can learn English better. Second, my child.

We use cookies to give you the best experience possible. By continuing we’ll assume you’re on board with our cookie policy

Save time and let our verified experts help you.

Free Essays
Citation Generator

Essay About Multitasking

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

Psyc 101 db2.

My thoughts on multitasking is that it’s not easy. I feel that you have to train yourself to become a descent multi-tasker. While driving, I would be seeing eating and talking on the cell phone, now in the case of studying, as I mentioned earlier I would need complete silence. The slightest noise would distract me, for instance, at the moment my fiancé is studying to be a pharmacy technician and I can hear her typing away at her keyboard, on the computer which is a huge distraction for me. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to rewrite this paragraph.…

How (And Why) To Stop Multitasking Summary

Multitasking can be beneficial or just a waste of time. In “How (and Why) to Stop Multitasking Peter Bregman and “In Defense of Multitasking” David Silverman, both bloggers explain their points of view on multitasking. Bregman explains the reasons why multitasking is bad “I will not deny that single-minded devotion often produces high quality. Nor will I attempt to join the misguided (and scientifically discredited) many who say “Yeah, other people can’t do it, but I am super awesome at doing ten things at once” (656) he explained. Silverman strongly believes that as human beings we have the habit of always trying to do as many tasks or get more time out of a 24 hour day.…

Hooked On Gadgets

In the article “Hooked on Gadgets and Paying a Mental Price” by Matt Richtel, we learn about the effects of being consumed by technology as well as multitasking. In the article, Richtel provides us with a real life example of the Campbell’s, and how Mr. Campbell’s addiction almost cost him a lucrative contract for his startup company. Also, we learn about how he could not even enjoy a family vacation without having his technological fix. Richtel also gives us hard scientific facts about the effects of technology and multitasking, such as the fact that multitaskers are less likely to be able to sort out irrelevant information and that multitaskers do worse when trying to juggle between tasks.…

David Silverman's Essay 'In Defense Of Multitasking'

In today’s world, are their any viable options to multitasking? We have become quite adept at juggling projects, emails, phone calls, and social media in our daily lives. Much research has been conducted, and many studies have come to the conclusion that multitasking lessens one’s overall effectiveness. David Silverman, in his essay “In Defense of Multitasking” presents and opposing side to this contention. Silverman, a Harvard Business Review blogger, goes so far as to likening our seemingly primal need to multitask to our necessity to breathe air (539). While it may not prove to be as vital as oxygen, Silverman demonstrates how crucial it is for the workplace.…

We Are All Guilty Of Multi-Tasking, By Alina Tugend

Reading the article the author wants us to think about how often we are multi-tasking without being aware of it. She wants us to think about the effects this has on our daily activities. Recognizing that multi-tasking is not doing more than one thing productively, but shifting focus which may not be…

Negative Effects Of Multitaskers '

Multitasking is something that most teens do in their everyday life. Whether it is during studying time, hangout time, or even family time, teens tend to engage in multiple tasks at the same time. Rebecca A. Clay, the author of Mini-Multitaskers, also agrees with this concept. Her overall main point throughout the article is that Multitasking prevents teens form learning and retaining information. In the article, it is made evident of where she stands. Clay makes it blatantly obvious that she feels as though multitasking has a negative effect on the brain as well as the learning development. Clay uses statistics such as “…According to a 2006 Kaiser Family Foundation…

Pros And Cons Of Multitasking

As people we love to do as many things as we can at once. We text, and tweet, and snapchat, and talk, and watch tv, and all while cramming for our midterm. Everyone of us has done this. I, myself, like many of you, believe that I am quite talented at it. But, that's not true, none of us are. Our minds aren't made to juggle ten things at once. Multitasking does more harm on our brains than good, whereas monotasking helps create quality work efficiently and is a better option for all people.…

Multitasking Makes You Feel Better Analysis

I too have succumbed to multitasking. I usually have the television playing because I feel as if I need the background noises but then I soon realize that I am concentrating more on the television. When I, or anybody else, try to handle too many activities at once they will become stressed and then they will start to mentally shut down, being unable to finish either task efficiently. I agree with the author in the first article that if we multitask that we will be more likely to do it again. It is like a drug for us because we are so used to trying to do more than we should, that we will continue to do so even if we try to avoid it. Annie Murphy Paul added towards the end of her article about taking tech breaks. I believe this is a great solution to the obstacle of multitasking. Students should take their time to put more into their study efforts so they can reflect on it and learn more, and then take a break to relax and to text to their heart…

Summary Paper

Since the early 1990’s multitasking has been thought of as an efficient way of saving time in our busy everyday lives. Emailing and chatting with multiple people at once online, watching television and talking on the phone are a couple of examples of how people tend to juggle multiple tasks.…

Research Paper On Fidget Spinners

Sometimes, there are less obvious distractions happening around you. If you don’t notice these distractions you may blame yourself for not having enough control over yourself. As you get older, concentration can change, as can other…

annotated bib

Tugend believes that multitasking does not mean doing several things while simultaneously tasking. People can and should train themselves to have a longer attention span and focus on a longer task. Society believes that technology and busy lives demand and facilitate multitasking. Attention span…

Negative Effects Of Multitasking

Multitasking in my opinion can be a good thing but also a bad thing. Researchers say many teens and children under the age 18 are more likely to multitask compared to mature adults. Technology has been the cause of young teens not paying full attention. Teenagers feel that they will miss out on important information so this messes with teen’s concentration. The brain cannot be at two places at one time. “Not only can people not process two tasks simultaneously, but it also takes longer to multitask than it would to do the individual tasks one after the other”, according to Steven G. Yantis. When a person tries to the do two things that require critical thinking and decision making, a delay is at the second task. When people multitask they are the ones that tend to forget or not remember what was done and get distracted easily.…

The Myth of Multitasking

The Myth of Multitasking, an article by Christine Rosen expresses peoples’ attempt to work like computers; executing multiple tasks concurrently in a shorter time span. Multitasking is the ability to swing attentions in between tasks by evaluating the importance of the tasks on hand and prioritising them.…

Task Switching

Throughout the day, people constantly find themselves starting, stopping and finishing many different cognitive tasks. This study was conducted to discover the effect that task switching has on performance. Thirty eight students participated in this experiment. They were asked to complete both repeating and switching tasks. The 100 total tasks were fully randomized with 50 task repeating and 50 task switching. It was hypothesized that when a participant will be asked to switch a task over repeating one, he or she will be significantly slower in reacting. The collected data revealed that in fact, the reaction time for task switching trials was significantly higher than for repeating ones. These findings supported the hypothesis. One can conclude from here that when one switches between cognitive tasks they can expect themselves to perform less than optimally then when they repeat the same task over and over.…

The Pros And Cons Of Multitasking

I have always had this idea that me being a mono-tasker makes me seem less intelligent than your average texting-and-driving, tweeting-and-doing homework multitaskers. However, after watching the short videos, and the PBS documentary, I am reassured that multitasking is not always a good skill to have, not when you're doing something that requires cognitive skills and physical effort (math, writing, studying, driving).…

essay about multitasking

IMAGES

VIDEO

COMMENTS

Essay About Multitasking

Multitasking Spits The Brain

Multitasking Can Make You Lose Um Focus

Multitasking Can Make You Lose Um Focus By Alina Tumgend Summary

Multitasking Can Make You Lose

Multitask Dbq

The Shallowss: Is Google Making USupid?

Multitasking Satire

Task Switching Essay

Essay on Multitasking is A Bad Habit

The Negative Impacts of Social Media Essay

Multitask Research Paper

Multitasking Research Paper

Effects Of Multitasking On The Brain

The Negative Effects Of Multitasking

The Negative Effects of Technology on Society Essay

Related Topics

How Multitasking Affects Productivity and Brain Health

Brain Function in Multitaskers

Frequently Asked Questions

Examples of Multitasking

How Multitasking Hampers Productivity

Multitasking Is Distracting

Multitasking Slows You Down

Multitasking Impairs Executive Function

Multitaskers Make Mistakes

Teens and Multitasking

Media Multitasking

Break the Multitasking Habit

Why multitasking does more harm than good

Your Brain While Multitasking

Multitasking Light

Grab Our Free eBook to Learn How to Grow Your Wellness Business Exponentially!

Examples of Multitasking

Multitasking Research (in Psychology)

Pros & Cons of Multitasking

Articles Related to Multitasking​

Books Related to Multitasking​

Final Thoughts on Multitasking

Essays on Multitasking

Why Multitasking is not Good for a Person

Exploring The Illusion of Multitasking and Its Positive Effect

Multitasking Person in Modern Life Essay

The 7 Laws of Multitasking

Law One: Some tasks mix well.

Law Two: Some tasks mix poorly.

Law Three: It’s partly about switching costs.

Law Four: It’s partly about resource conflict.

Law Five: It’s partly about sweetening the pot.

Law Six: It’s partly about setting picks.

Law Seven: It’s all about making trade-offs.

Conclusion: some specific and useful strategies.

Further Reading

Changing Our Brains

Paying Attention

Delivered to your inbox:

Humane dissent from technocracy

Stop Multitasking. No, Really — Just Stop It.

The Illusion of Multitasking Improves Performance on Simple Tasks

Read the study: “The Illusion of Multitasking and Its Positive Effect on Performance”

25 Multitasking Examples

Types of Multitasking

Multitasking Examples

Pros and Cons of Multitasking

Criticisms of Multitasking Theory

Most Popular

How to Write a Position Paper

How to Write a Hypothesis

Comments (0)

Cancel reply

More from Expository Essay Examples and Samples

Why Is Of Mice And Men Banned

Pride and Prejudice Themes

Remote Collaboration and Evidence Based Care Essay Sample, Example

Forgotten Password?

Pros And Cons Of Multitasking | Benefits and Disadvantages

Avantika Bhardwaj

What is Multitasking?

PROS Of Multitasking

CONS Of Multitasking

Articles Related to Multitasking

Books Related to Multitasking