Most of us feel we are great at multitasking. It is now common to see “multitasker” as a desirable quality on resumes or job applications. In fact, in a study on the perception of multitasking 84% of the participants said it was a desired skill and furthermore, 93% of them said they perceived themselves as actually being able to multitask better than the average person. 

We often check our emails while watching a show or listening to a podcast while cooking. I am also guilty of multitasking in my everyday life. Often times I am listening to a TED talk or have a YouTube video playing while I work. I can say that oftentimes I do not even recall what the video was about, but I feel like I am multitasking. That is my perception of what I am doing.

I have been told many times that no one can truly multitask and have the best quality of work produced, which I tend to agree with. Although my art or design work isn’t lacking, my attention and being an active viewer or listener is close to none when I have a video or music on in the background as I work. 

In my case, my “multitasking” is quite harmless, as it does not impact my quality of work, but for people trying to multitask with multiple important tasks, it can be detrimental. Not only will your equality of work decrease, but in a study by a Stanford University professor it was found that “multitasking actually weakens cognitive ability and brain function.” 

The study focused on three key areas:

 1. The ability to filter relevant information from non-relevant information. 

 2. The ability to manage one’s working memory, so essentially filing information away for immediate recall. 

 3. The response rate of switching from one task to another.

Miller, John

Heavy multitaskers were the slowest and worst with all three of the key areas, from being attracted to non-relevant information, to slow information recall, as well as a slower ability to switch tasks. 

Even with all of this being said, multitasking isn’t necessarily all bad, well at least the perception of it isn’t. The study, “The Illusion of Multitasking and Its Positive Effect on Performance,” found that when people feel like they are multitasking they actually perform better than when they feel like they are only performing a single task. In their study, they tested two groups of people with their performance on a certain task. One group believed they were multitasking while the other group believed they were only performing a single task, while both groups were actually doing the same thing. The multitasking group actually ended up out-performing the single-tasking group. “Our research suggests that making people think that they are multitasking as opposed to single-tasking is beneficial to performance.”  In this study, not only did they test performance, but they also conducted more studies and found that the perception of multitasking also reduced boredom.

Although multitasking, itself, can have negative effects, in the opposite, the perception of multitasking may be beneficial. So what does this mean? 

I believe we need to start “multi-single-tasking,” meaning that we need to have a single task that has our attention, but also have other smaller, less significant tasks that make us feel as if we are multitasking. This means I can continue to “watch” or “listen” to videos while I do my work. Even though I might not be gaining anything from having them on in the background, the perception of multitasking can increase my ability to perform and reduce boredom, while performing a more important task. I believe that in order to master this “multi-single-tasking” we have to find tasks that do not require any attention to match with tasks that need our full concentration. The feeling of multitasking without actually taking away from the work that we are producing. Whether that be taking a walk to think of ideas, or playing music while writing a paper. Instead of causing harm to ourselves by multitasking, we should start to use the perception of it to our advantage.

Sources:

Miller, John. “Time Management – Efficiency vs. Multitasking – Which Is More Efficient?” JBE, Inc., 26 June 2017, http://www.jbeinc.net/time-management-efficiency-vs-multitasking/.

Srna, Shalena, et al. pp. 1–23, The Illusion of Multitasking and Its Positive Effect on Performance.