The Myth of Multitasking

“Inevitably we find ourselves tackling too many things at the same time, spreading our focus so thin that nothing gets the attention it deserves. This is commonly referred to as “being busy.” Being busy, however, is not the same thing as being productive.”

— Ryder Carroll

I think this is pretty much common knowledge by now, but it is still worth sharing as a reminder of good habits.

Humans are not very efficient when it comes to doing multiple tasks at the same time. All things being equal, we are far more effective in executing the same exact tasks in a sequential form rather than in parallel. Trying to do multiple things at once is often the best way to make sure we will sabotage our results and our productivity. This inefficiency is true for most of the things we are doing, although we’ll see some exceptions. When we are talking about multitasking, for the most part, we are really talking about task-switching. 

Our minds cannot work on two demanding tasks at once, when we try, we actually just constantly switch our attention and focus back and forth from task to task, to task, to task… The switching itself has its own costs of both time and energy, which is the cause of the inefficiency problem. Whenever we are executing an effortful task, different networks in the brain make sure we stay on track with what we are doing.
These networks have to do with alertness (maintaining an alert state and a certain level of activation), orientation (keeping in working memory all the relevant stimuli/information, while blocking all the unnecessary or distracting ones), and executive control (the center for formulating goals, plans, decision-making, and error detection). The executive control center directs our attention and focus, creating priorities, and managing the activation of other networks in the brain to work on the task to be accomplished. When we switch tasks, our brain needs to put aside all the information relevant to the previous one, gain or regain the information needed for the new one, reformulate the goal, remake a plan, and only then we are ready to resume and take actions. The executive control in the brain needs to move through two complementary stages: “goal shifting” (what I want to do), and “rule activation” (how am I going to do it).

The unfortunate side effects of this shifting process in our daily work are a waste of resources:

1. TIME. We take more time to try to complete two tasks at the same time than it would take to do the same two tasks sequentially.

2. QUALITY. The quality of output and the quality of experience decreases. When multitasking, we often lose the nuances of the work we are doing, our work becomes shallow, lacking depth, and generally filled with avoidable mistakes. On top of that, our enjoyment of the experience also decreases. 

3. RELATIONSHIPS. This lower level of quality can be extremely dangerous in our relationships, where subtle messages from the other person (an inflection in the voice, body language, a different look in their eyes...) can be lost, generating possible future conflicts and missing the opportunity for a deeper connection. These problems can arise from the multitasking of either side, from the side of the person ignoring, and from the side of the person who is being ignored.

4. STRESS. Multitasking keeps us always on the edge. Whenever we work in a fractured way, our basic level of stress arousal increases, and we might get triggered more easily.

There is a difference between being productive and being busy. Trying to juggle different challenging tasks gives us one while handicapping the other. The reason why task switching makes us feel so busy stems from two facts: first, it does actually require more energy, so we are technically doing more, although achieving less. Second, while multitasking, we are constantly harassed by different stimuli of all the tasks we are trying to work on, and this overstimulation can make us feel more active and aroused.
That said, there is also a difference between multitasking and being cognitively flexible. Being able to put a pause to what you’re doing to take care of a more urgent problem, to be able to pay attention to your environment, and being cognitively flexible, is an asset. To try and do all things at one time, on the other hand, will injure your output.

When is multitasking good?

Let’s face it, we all try to multitask more than we would like to. But unless we are driving a car or the safety of other people is in our hands, it is usually no big deal. Most of us who have a desk job can really survive even while multitasking at work. My goal here wasn’t to make anybody feel ashamed. But, if there are times where your work needs a bit more attention and care, this kind of information can be useful to keep in mind. That point being addressed, there are also times where multitasking itself is either innocuous or even helpful. Tasks that don’t require a lot of conscious effort or that use different systems of the brain can be done at the same time without a real loss of performance. For example: riding a bike and talking with a friend, driving a car and listening to music. These tasks are automated enough that for the most part, we can do at least one of them without thinking about it, so it leaves our mind free to focus on the other. They are also not competing for the same physical senses, as would be driving and reading a text, with both tasks requiring sight. Things can change though if we driving in heavy traffic though, and we need to pay extra attention to what we are doing.

There are also times where this type of multitasking can actually increase our performance, and this links back to the concept of alertness. Having diverse input of stimuli can help us have more energy during boring, repetitive, and simple tasks. Raising our level of alertness makes us enjoy those things more.
One example can be having a more stimulating conversation while walking rather than just sitting on a chair. It can be listening to music while doing mundane tasks such as cleaning the house; we all know how much more active and energized we feel. As always, it all depends on the situation and what fits better for you at this moment.

A small warning.
We’ve talked a bit about productivity today, but productivity becomes useless and meaningless when we treat it as an end in itself. This isn’t about us becoming more efficient, achieving more, transforming ourselves into the perfect robot.
We don’t become better people just by “doing” more, although sometimes people try to sell it like it. Our doing needs to come from our being first: from being more authentic, from being more caring and passionate about what we are doing, from creating something meaningful. Only then it makes sense to improve our way of doing, our way of working.
But until that meaningful work has been found, none of this will really make any difference.

References: Crenshaw, Dave. The Myth of Multitasking: How "Doing It All" Gets Nothing Done. Published: 2008.

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