Is multitasking slowing you down?

You have a morning meeting in five minutes. You just received an important email. Now, your cell phone dinged with a new push notification. Meanwhile, you need to finish making your child’s lunch before you take them to school. Then, if you’re lucky, you’ll have a moment to feed yourself. 

These days, if you’re not multitasking, your to-do list might feel impossible. 

“We have good reasons to want to multitask,” says Dr. Jessica Chapin, a neuropsychologist at Aurora Health Care. “Multitasking can seem really useful, and sometimes it does help us get more done.” 

However, multitasking increases your risk of making a mistake, might diminish your IQ and paradoxically may be less efficient than focusing on one task at a time. 

What’s the cost of multitasking? 

One study found that office employees who bounce between websites and apps spent roughly four hours of the workweek switching and reorienting themselves – or nearly five weeks out of the year. 

But taking longer to get the job done is only one of the drawbacks. According to Dr. Chapin, there are three big costs of multitasking.  

“The first cost is lower performance,” she says. “Research shows that we don’t do as good of a job when we multitask – and it is very common for us to over-estimate how good we are at multitasking.“ 

When you switch between tasks, your brain goes between two stages known as “goal shifting” and “rule activation.” Imagine you’re following a recipe to make one intricate meal and halfway through you stop and begin making a different one. Goal shifting in this sense is the new meal you’re preparing, and rule activation is the new recipe you need to find and review. Even if you are attentive and meticulous, the odds that you’ll forget an ingredient or mismeasure increase because of these changes. 

“The second big cost is multitasking can leave us mentally exhausted,” says Dr. Chapin. “When we multitask, we are switching our attention between activities, often repeatedly. Psychologists have found that every time we switch our attention, it takes extra energy to stop thinking about one thing and shift to another.”  

In essence, the cognitive burden of switching back and forth makes us tired faster and leaves us prone to even more errors. 

“The third cost is not being fully present,” says Dr. Chapin. “For example, not being fully connected when your kid is telling you something, when you are walking in nature or when you are eating something delicious.” 

How can you stop multitasking? 

Multitasking is a behavior you can change through planning and conscientious effort. While life may sometimes require you to multitask, learning to avoid it in some circumstances might help you multitask better when it’s truly needed. 

Dr. Chapin recommends the following tips: 

• Focus on less. If you get the urge to multitask, see if you can get more curious and interested in what you’re currently doing. 
• Turn off automatic alerts on phones and computers or try leaving your phone at home for a few hours. 
• Spend time in nature. Exposure to nature may not only improve attention and mood, but it might also reduce your chances of making mistakes. 
• Try mindfulness meditation. This practice has beneficial effects on attention span despite your level of experience. 

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