Minimize “Multitasking”!
When speaking for an audience last week, 23 participants said they are good at multitasking. One woman even said her job description required her to be good at multitasking.
I cautioned them – and I’m cautioning you – to be careful about multitasking. Multitasking is one of the hot bywords of today, yet studies by the Federal Aviation Administration, University of Michigan, and UCLA show that multitasking can be hazardous to your health and that it can lead to numerous physical problems and memory loss.
Here are 3 suggestions for you: 1) Prioritize your tasks. (If you prioritize properly, there’s no need to multitask). 2) Set deadlines for each task – in advance, and 3), Multitask only with low-level activities such as listening to CDs while exercising and watching TV when cooking.
February 20, 2009 at 3:57 pm
I completely agree about multitasking since all the information I’ve seen indicates negative consequences ranging from the start up time required to get back into a task to the reduction in long term memory from multitasking. However, in Don Tapscott’s book “Grown Up Wired” that you mention in a later post, he suspects a change in mental processing ability for the Net Geners. I personally find that hard to believe since everything I know about the brain indicates its evolution is a very slow process…but maybe he’s right!
February 20, 2009 at 11:26 pm
Thank you. Don Tapscott does say he suspects a change in mental processing ability for Net Geners. He doesn’t offer research for that and I’m OK with his opinion even without research. Here’s why.
Even without any research from Don Tapscott, Net Geners will still lose a lot of time by multitasking because they still need to refocus. Please permit me to explain what I mean.
Ordinary business people, when interrupted, need 4 to 5 minutes to refocus. Thus, if you and I have six tasks that require 6 minutes for each task — and we get interrupted for each task – we’ll zip right through an hour. Now let’s say we’re a Net Gener who can refocus in 2 or 3 minutes, instead of 4 or 5 minutes, we still lose a lot of time.
It’s the time loss — and the stress from the time loss — that I want to prevent. That’s why I say that it’s important to minimize multitasking.
February 22, 2009 at 1:52 am
I work for a monthly magazine and layout the publication in many varied programs which I always felt made me a mutli-tasker. In fact, I always took the term and used it with pride. When I read this I felt a little taken aback because it threatened my skills with some kind of negative long term impact. But after some thought, it seems that at the end of each deadline the downtime I need to readjust to the real world just seems to long. So I’m thinking of readdressing the way I use my time in a deadline situation. Thanks Chuc.
October 28, 2009 at 7:27 pm
I just read a fascinating article about how multitasking is a way for the brain to seek novelty. It becomes an addiction and and craving and when it starts to lack, our dopamine levels drop and we crave more, thus our productivity suffers as a result. I wrote about this in my blog and linked to the article. http://thisthatotherthing.wordpress.com/2009/10/28/multitasking-is-the-brain-seeking-novelty/
October 28, 2009 at 7:38 pm
Thanks, Richard. The article looks good and it’s obvious that you’re as fascinated with this multitasking stuff as I am.