The Truth About Multitasking AND Why It’s Dangerous for Your Brain

“Most of the time multitasking is an illusion. You think you are multitasking, but in reality, you are actually wasting time switching from one task to another “ — Bosco Tjan

When we juggle several tasks at the same time, it might feel seamless, but the truth is our brain needs to work a series of small shifts. Let’s imagine we are writing a pitch for a client when we receive a notification of an incoming email.  Our brain has to refocus on the task and backtrack.

Multitasking detracts our focus and makes it more difficult for us to organize our thoughts. The result is decreased efficiency, less creativity and an increased possibility of making mistakes. Unfortunately, there is still ignorance where many managers still believe that multitasking allows us to accomplish more. Even when we think we’re multitasking, we’re actually just switching from one task to another very rapidly. 

Multitasking from a historical point of view

If multitasking is bad, why do we feel the need to do it? Going back to prehistoric times when our brains evolved, any new piece of information might have been critical for our survival: a rustling in the bushes could mean that there was a dangerous animal nearby and we’d have to pay attention and be ready to defend ourselves. Unfortunately, this once evolutionary advantage has become a distraction and could potentially cripple us. Our brains aren’t equipped to handle the sensory overload.

Grey matter differences in media multitaskers

Multitasking once was considered a way to boost productivity, today however multitasking is prevalent as a result of technology distractions.  Researchers at the University of Sussex in the UK compared the amount of time people spend on multiple devices (such as texting while watching TV) to MRI scans of their brains. They found that heavy multitaskers had less brain density in the anterior cingulate cortex, an area responsible for empathy as well as cognitive and emotional control. Another study by Wagner showed that heavy multitaskers are associated with “higher attentional impulsivity” and their ability to distinguish between goal-irrelevant information to goal-relevant information is greatly diminished.  This research showed that the working memory also is impaired, which influence the long term memory. 

Dangerous traps of a multitasker

Let’s be honest, every one of us knows how it feels to know that there is an unread email in our inbox. The constant thrill of a new “bold” email, can be very distracting. Just thought of a chance to multitask can reduce our effective IQ by 10 points! At the end of the day, we find, that we spent a great amount of our working time checking our various message inboxes.  

How can we be more aware of these technology traps and improve our ability to focus on one task?

Tip – Train yourself to be aware of technology distractions:

We can notice our tendency to be distracted by technology incoming messages or the need to check our social media and we can set personal boundaries around this. For example, we can create an email checking schedule; such as deciding and committing to check emails only three times a day – when you get into work in the morning, at lunchtime, and before leaving work at the end of the day.

Start to train yourself to stick with a particular task rather than jump to another task while in the middle of doing something.  “In a world of distraction and multitasking, the ability to single-task — to genuinely do one thing without getting distracted by push notifications, alerts, email, text messages, social media, whatever it might be — is a superpower.” — Tim Ferris

How can Mindfulness help?

Our ability to stay with one task is one way we can train our brain to be more focused. Mindfulness is paying attention at the moment.  Its definition by nature means that we hold our attention.  Mindfulness training teaches us to hold our attention longer and to ward off distractions. In fact mindfulness cultivates a number of competencies that we need to be able to hold off that pull of checking our messages or the number of likes we received on a social media post. With mindfulness, we practice attending to one thing.  We practice patience, trust, letting go. The art of being able to trust at the moment, to be patient and focused on a task and doing this from A-Z is something that we nurture in mindfulness practice.     

What can we as leaders do to reduce multitasking?

1. Have a discussion around multitasking with your team and bring up some of the research.   Ask team members for their input.

2. Encourage breaks – people will feel more pressured to multitask when they are overwhelmed by a number of tasks.  

3. Build a culture of slower but more purposeful thinking. Multitasking is a result of outside distractions and stressors and shouldn’t be punished. However, other methods, like slower and more careful thinking, should be encouraged. 

4. Introduce Mindfulness into your working environment. Contact Samantha Amit to hear about Mindfulness for busy people.