by Hayley Sandiford
A typical morning for many of us may look something like this: catching up on news while getting ready, making breakfast, and sending the kids off to school; driving to work while listening to a podcast, navigating, and drinking your coffee; getting settled at the office while your office manager catches you up on the day before, checking emails, and preparing for the morning huddle. Oh—and don’t forget how many times you checked your phone throughout the morning, whether it was for a call, text, calendar notification, or to scroll through social media. It’s not even 8 am and we have “multitasked” a lot!
Many of us pride ourselves on our ability to multitask. We have it as a qualification on our job descriptions, must be able to multitask. But is multitasking really a skill? The term “multitask” wasn’t even a word before 1965. IBM actually created the term to describe the capabilities of its new computer system. The term wasn’t intended to describe human functions.
We can do two things at a time, especially when one of those activities is so engrained it can be done on autopilot, such as carrying on a conversation while walking. What we can’t do is learn or concentrate on two things at once. When the brain is presented with two tasks at once, it quickly toggles back and forth. This is called task-switching, notmultitasking.
Today, research is proving that multitasking, or task-switching, is not nearly as efficient as we would like to believe—and it can even be more harmful than helpful. Here are 3 reasons to avoid multitasking:
1. Decreases Productivity
Ask anyone why they multitask, and they will almost certainly respond, “to be more productive” or “to get more done in less time.” Ironically, it’s been proven over and over again that multitasking has the exact opposite effect. It’s estimated that multitasking costs the economy $650 billion annually in wasted productivity. Every time you change activities, it can take up to 5 minutes to get back on track. Five minutes may not seem like much, but experts estimate that switching between tasks can cause 40% loss in productivity. Not only, does multitasking waste time, it also increases your likelihood of making mistakes. One study found that subjects who were given three tasks made three times as many errors as those given only two tasks.
2. Negatively Affects Your Brain
Mentally toggling back and forth between tasks takes a toll on your brain. It results in reduced attention span, learning, and memory. Chronic multitaskers exhibit weakness in both working memory (the ability to store relevant information while working on a task) and long-term memory (the ability to store and recall information over longer periods of time). According to Dr. Clifford Nass, the author of The Man Who Lied to His Laptop, the more you multitask, the less you’re able to learn, concentrate, or be nice to people. Multitasking hinders your ability to problem-solve and think creatively, making you less likely to come up with good solutions. Serious multitaskers are shown to have less brain density in the brain area responsible for empathy and emotional control.
3. Increases Risk of Physical Harm
Texting and driving leads to more accidents. In fact, cell-phone use leads to over 1.6 million car accidents per year. Even more alarming, texting drivers are six times more likely to cause an accident than drunk drivers. According to the RAC Foundation, a British motoring research charity, texting while driving decreases reaction time and reduces steering control by a horrifying 91%. This makes texting and driving significantly more hazardous than driving while drunk or stoned. Multitasking while walking is almost as hazardous. Those using electronic devices walk more slowly, weave more, and make more direction changes than those not on cell phones. Distracted walking causes pedestrians to get hit by cars, fall off bridges, and stumble onto subway tracks.
Multitasking can be a tough habit to break—however, spending blocks of time doing one thing at a time will take you less total time, and decrease your risk of mistakes than trying to do two things at once. Try blocking out time for specific tasks such as checking email, prepping for your daily huddle, planning next week’s training, talking to friends, even when to check social media.