How does multitasking work

Employers often value employees with strong multitasking skills. But research shows that multitasking is not an effective time management strategy and is bad for your health. Engaging in several projects at the same time isn't worth it. This is particularly seen in our work environments. Employers usually want employees with strong multitasking skills, and employees often feel compelled to constantly try to improve their competence at juggling multiple projects. Multitasking is commonly perceived as an effective time management strategy: When employees multitask, more work gets done.

Ever feel like this when forced to multitask on the job? Research shows that multitasking is bad for your brain and can lead to serious health problems. When you do two jobs at once, your brain jumps from one job to the other, back and forth; it is unable to fully focus on both jobs at once.

For example, if you answer a phone call from a client while at the same finishing up a power point presentation on your computer, it is impossible for your brain to be fully engaged in both the phone conversation and the power point presentation. To fully attend to one of the two tasks, the other task must be sacrificed; your brain cannot fully attend to both tasks simultaneously.

It leads to loss of productivity. Research shows that your brain cannot effectively or efficiently switch between tasks.

Each time your brain has to switch gears jumping from one task to the next, it loses momentum which leads to decreased efficiency. Sound familiar? It's more efficient to carry one task out to its completion, and then move on to the next task. Constantly jumping from one task to another while attempting to complete several different projects overloads your brain. Multitasking at high rates also increases levels of cortisol, the primary stress hormone in your body.

Common symptoms of elevated levels of cortisol include exhaustion, sleeplessness, body aches, digestive problems, high blood pressure, and high levels of anxiety which may result in panic attacks. Multitasking has a negative impact on your ability to think, reason, and to recognize and solve problems. Performing several jobs at once exhausts your brain, strips you of cognitive functions and can lead to early mental decline.

In addition, increased levels of cortisol caused by trying to handle multiple tasks at once can damage the memory region of the brain. The amount of energy and focus multitasking sucks up diminishes our ability to think creatively, such as to come up with original ideas and even to daydream. Trying to focus on multiple projects and trying to attend to ongoing interruptions, such as the phone ringing and the influx of email and text messages, disrupts the creative process the brain is fully able to engage in when allowed to focus on one task at a time.

Multitasking inevitably impacts your relationships. The stress and frustration associated with multitasking inevitably impacts your personal relationships. It means that, like most of us, their brain isn't wired to work on multiple complex tasks simultaneously. We perform much better when we focus fully on one thing at a time. You should consider whether or not you're really able to multitask before adding it to your resume.

We have a tendency to overestimate our ability to multitask, and even people who think they're skilled in this area often make mistakes or work inefficiently. Ever wonder what your personality type means? Sign up to find out more in our Healthy Mind newsletter. Jeong S-H, Hwang Y. Media multitasking effects on cognitive vs. Hum Commun Res. Multicosts of multitasking. Media multitasking is associated with distractibility and increased prefrontal activity in adolescents and young adults.

Wiradhany W, Koerts J. Everyday functioning-related cognitive correlates of media multitasking: A mini meta-analysis. Media Psychol. Executive control of cognitive processes in task switching. J Exp Psychol Human. Make it our time: In class multitaskers have lower academic performance. Comput Hum Behav. Multitasking during simulated car driving: A comparison of young and older persons. Front Psychol. Who multi-tasks and why?

Multi-tasking ability, perceived multi-tasking ability, impulsivity, and sensation seeking. Media multitasking and cognitive, psychological, neural, and learning differences. Does media multitasking always hurt? A positive correlation between multitasking and multisensory integration. Psychon Bull Rev. Your Privacy Rights. To change or withdraw your consent choices for VerywellMind.

At any time, you can update your settings through the "EU Privacy" link at the bottom of any page. These choices will be signaled globally to our partners and will not affect browsing data.

We and our partners process data to: Actively scan device characteristics for identification. I Accept Show Purposes. Table of Contents View All. Table of Contents. Multitasking and Productivity. Brain Function in Multitaskers. Break the Habit. Frequently Asked Questions. What Is Multitasking? Whenever you transition from one task to another it takes a moment for your brain to becoming fully engaged in the activity.

You can think of it like a mental version of warming up at the gym. It takes a minute or two before your brain is operating fluently and at full speed on a given task," performance improvement author James Clear explains in an email interview. There's a scientific reason behind this madness. The brain's prefrontal cortex is credited with helping us pay attention to a given task. Spanning both the left and right sides of the brain, it's responsible for getting jobs done by coordinating with other neurological areas.

When charged with one task, both the left and right sides join forces. When faced with multitasking, the two sides of the prefrontal cortex are forced to split up in order to attempt the simultaneous tasks [source: Society for Neuroscience ].

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