Take a second to think about all of the different things you're doing at this very moment. In addition to reading this blog post, you might be listening to music, munching on a snack and checking your email in a different browser tab. While multitasking is common, most people are not as good at juggling numerous tasks as they think they are and several different studies suggest that multitasking can significantly reduce productivity.
One researcher suggests that multitasking can reduce productivity by as much as 40 percent.
Image courtesy Paul Kline/iStockPhoto.
Multitasking is often seen as a way to increase productivity. After all, if you're working on several different tasks at once, you're bound to accomplish more, right? The research suggests, however, that doing several things at once actually make people less productive. Multitaskers have more trouble tuning out distractions than people who focus on one task at a time and trying to do so many different things at once can actually impair cognitive ability. Learn more about this research in this article on the cognitive costs of multitasking.
Comments
Hello Kendra, My name is Lesa Marie, and I agree with the headline from today, it is hard for me to focus on one thing after having been a waitress for so long.
Hi. This theory is true but not for those who are mothers. As a mother you have to do many different things at once otherwise you can not accomplish all the chores at home. For instance, I am cooking while I am making salad and also watching Law and Order. Meanwhile I am trying to pour the buckle to water my flowers that I have on my porch. Isn?t it funny?
indeed! being busy is not being productive?doing so many things at the same time denies your brain a chance to accomplish a perfect task. the individual gets frustrated, resulting to ?learned helplessness? mechanism.
this is very true. As much as people think that multitasking enables one to do much it also reduces your ability to perfect a task or at least doing it to your best