Multitasking should be avoided. It was covered in the news, books, and blogs. On the radio and in podcasts, we hear it. Not to mention the numerous studies that back it up. Some of them even demonstrate that multitasking typically results in a 40% reduction in productivity.
In response to this observation, single-tasking has emerged as the new standard for productivity. Today, single-tasking techniques like Deep Work, the Pomodoro method, and even time blocking are revered.
I'm the first to use these techniques and I adore them. They enable me to produce high-quality work much more quickly than if I were juggling multiple projects at once. But multitasking also has its advantages. This is even the best course of action in some circumstances.
In this article, we will review the reasons why multitasking reduces productivity while also highlighting some instances in which it may be advantageous.
Multitasking is not how our brain is wired. He is unable to focus on multiple challenging tasks at once. When we multitask, we give the impression that we are working on several things at once, but in reality, we are quickly switching between them, which causes a number of issues.
A study by the University of Basel2 found that multitasking leads to cognitive overload, which lowers performance. Our ability to reason and make wise decisions suffers as a result of our brain having to focus on more information.
This finding is supported by another study from University College London. Neuroscientists used it to scan the brains of people who previously multi-tasked. They found that the latter had lower grey matter density in the anterior cingulate cortex, which had the effect of lowering their cognitive function.3.
Therefore, multitasking would be detrimental to our brain.
Additionally, multitasking increases time loss because switching tasks has a switching cost:
In other words, you spend less time concentrating the more tasks you switch between.
Additionally, multitasking uses up energy. Our brain uses glucose, which is its primary source of energy, every time we switch tasks. It is wasted by continuously switching from one task to another rather than being put to use to complete work.
Therefore, a priori multitasking is bad. However, in some limited circumstances, it may be advantageous.
Additionally, a study that appeared in Psychological Science found that multitasking is possible even when there is no conflict between our tasks. In other words, when the simultaneous tasks you want to complete require various cognitive resources.
For instance, it is impossible to write an article and respond to an email at the same time because they both use the same area of the brain, the one responsible for language processing.