Myths About Multitasking
Multitasking sounds nice in principle, but is sloppy in practice. Let’s bust some myths about multitasking.
Good Morning!
I hope you had a great weekend and are having a great start to your week.
This story from Motherboard, a Vice publication on tech, caught my eye over the weekend, and made me curious about the concept of split attention.
On one hand, I have a feeling of happiness for the subjects of this article. “Overemployed” workers exploited ChatGPT’s prompt-response model to do their work for them, and are hoping to retire at age 35 while working multiple jobs.
On the other hand, I lament for the companies who are being bamboozled by these people, and feel even worse for the worthy candidates who might give their all to one of the positions that are being skimped on by these overworkers.
There’s no doubt that large language models like OpenAI’s ChatGPT are useful and increase productivity; if I’m honest, it’ll have helped me write pieces of this newsletter and is part of the reason I’ve been able to stick to such a consistent publishing timeframe while seeing upwards of 25 fitness clients a week
But I do wonder if the quality of the work that ChatGPT is producing for these overworkers is better than that of one singular person, passionate about their position, who is putting genuine effort into proposals, code, and excel spreadsheets.
This leads me to a bigger conversation about multitasking and the quality of work done while multitasking.
Multitasking: Principle versus Practice
Multitasking sounds nice in principle. For those with painfully long to-do lists and daunting responsibility, tackling multiple problems at once and improving the economy of your productivity is an attractive prospect.
But research suggests that multitasking can lead to decreased productivity and negative psychological effects.
Let’s explore.
A study conducted by Stanford University found that individuals who regularly engage in multitasking are actually less productive in their work. This is because when we switch from task to task, our brains require time to refocus and readjust, which can result in errors and a decrease in quality of work.
The study did, however, indicate that those heavy-media multitaskers (those who were using multiple devices, or “HMM’s”) had different brain circuitries than light-media multitaskers (LMM’s).
Whether or not that’s a good thing depends on how you interpret this quote from the study:
Because switch costs have been attributed to competition from activation of the irrelevant task-set (18–20), these results suggest that HMMs are less capable of filtering out the irrelevant task-set representation in memory on a given trial.
While multitasking might seem like an attempt to reduce overall stress at face value, it’s almost counterintuitive to think working taking on more work will be beneficial, especially knowing the quality of the work may suffer.
Multitasking is more likely to increase overall stress because of the lackluster work performed, which may lend itself to even more work down the road.
When we attempt to juggle multiple tasks simultaneously, our brains become overwhelmed, leading to an increase in cortisol, a hormone associated with stress. Consistently elevated levels of cortisol can lead to burnout, depression, and anxiety.
One who multitasks must also be concerned about the potential for a decrease in general focus and attention span. A study published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology (JEP) found that individuals who regularly engage in multitasking have a decreased ability to filter out irrelevant information and focus on what is important. This can lead to decreased performance in tasks that require sustained attention.
The culmination of these three multitasking drawbacks seems to point toward a decrease in productivity, the opposite of the initial goal.
Scientists have questioned the JEP’s study, to be fair, raising ideas that multitasking between two non-conflicting activities, like eating and reading, for example, is still possible without many drawbacks.
Still, the point of this long section is to try and dispel the concept of multi-device-tasking and doing two equally important things at the same time (mainly in relation to work).
And sure, younger adults like the Chatbotters above might be able to pull off some slick moves for gargantuan salaries for a little while, but multitasking only gets harder with age.
The Case for Laser Focus
Working incredibly hard on one thing with pinpoint focus will not only result in more complete, rewarding work, but also better executive control.
Reducing the impulse to multitask will strengthen your brain against the plague of distraction, which is helpful for more things than just work. You probably want to be able to listen and look at your partner instead of your phone while at dinner or while spending quality time with them.
And I’m sure your partner wants that too.
Also, the determination to set and see through your goals, however large or small, requires focus. Have you ever set goals with no definitive timeline, and then wondered why they never got done?
A distracted brain may not always be the culprit — life happens — but it’s worth looking at your habits and whether or not you get pulled away from your tasks easily.
Some strategies for the frenetic to limit juggling jobs might include the “20-minute rule,” a time-based method where you set a timer or stopwatch before switching tasks.
Another might be practicing mindfulness or meditating. As a health coach, I don’t always recommend meditation involves sitting in stillness. That’s great, too, but sometimes meditating can be something as simple as going for a walk without your phone and breathing through your nose.
For me, meditating sometimes includes playing video games, which is a great way to “turn my brain off” from the many tasks it has daily. Technically, it’s not a totally mindless activity, but if you’re a gamer, I’d encourage you to read a newsletter I published a year ago on gaming and its benefits — most of them still ring true.
And, of course, another thought might be exercising! This is the trainer in me, but exercising does improve mental clarity and focus, so I’d be remiss not to mention it as a way of sharpening your brain.
Thanks for reading!
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