Why We Should Single Task: The Costs of Divided Attention
I know that multitasking makes me and my devices crash and I still get pulled into it from time to time! gah!
It was a rather trendy concept that ran popular sometime during the Power 80’s and then society began to slow down a few years later as mindfulness crept in as a solution to the nervous breakdowns and burnout many were experiencing!
Despite this, the traces remained and are celebrated in many segments of the work environs! Multitasking is an integral part of modern life. With the constant pinging of smartphones, pop-up notifications on our computers, and ever-growing to-do lists, we have been conditioned to believe we can — and should — juggle multiple tasks simultaneously.
This is why many of us still pride ourselves on our ability to multitask. We talk on the phone while cooking dinner, send emails during meetings, and toggle between work and web browsing constantly. Part of it is the ‘reward’ we get from the connection of social media.
However, research shows that multitasking is not productive and comes with several downsides and may even be harmful. We also know it inherently and yet find it hard to stop sometimes as it seems to have become pretty habitual.
Here are some of the biggest cons of multitasking:
Our brains are not designed for heavy-duty multitasking. When we switch between tasks, we endure something called “multitasking costs” which make us less efficient. Each time we shift our attention from one thing to another, our brains have to reorient to the new task. This refocusing process takes time and mental energy. Studies show that just the act of being interrupted makes us take 50% longer to finish tasks and make 50% more errors. So those frequent multitasking switches come at a hefty price.
Plus, when we multitask we don’t actually pay full attention to any one task. We end up splitting our finite mental resources rather than giving 100% of our focus to a single activity.
A study compared light multitaskers to heavy multitaskers and found that those who juggled more also struggled to filter out irrelevant information and remember important details. They essentially overloaded their mental circuits and experienced more memory lapses as a result. Researchers say trying to multitask can drop your productive IQ by as much as 15 points!
Multitasking also negatively impacts our performance and harms productivity. Numerous studies have demonstrated that multitasking leads to significant drops in productivity. When we switch between tasks, our brains have to work overtime to change gears, process new information, find our spot again, and get back on track. All of this switching back and forth creates a lag time where no productive work is achieved. It can take up to 23 minutes to fully refocus after an interruption. So those little check-ins to social media can end up being far more disruptive than we realize. Studies of university students found that those who frequently texted or used social media while studying scored much lower scores. Workers who watch TV or surf the internet at the same time are less productive as well and distracted workers make twice as many mistakes. When we split our attention, the quality of whatever we do invariably suffers.
When we divide our attention, we spread our cognitive resources thin and are far more likely to miss key details, forget things, or make silly errors. For tasks that demand accuracy, like accounting, proofreading, or computer coding, multitasking can lead to disastrous and costly consequences. Thankfully, they are now offering focus sessions on our devices, if we are inclined to utilise them.
Additionally, multitasking is linked to higher stress levels. Juggling multiple responsibilities at once triggers the release of stress hormones and adrenaline. Although we might feel a temporary rush when multitasking, over time chronically high levels of stress hormones take a toll on our health and wellbeing. Research shows that frequently interrupted work causes higher heart rates, blood pressure, and frustration as well. All of those competing priorities flooding our brains activate the body’s flight-or-fight stress response.
Multitasking does not allow time for deeper, more creative thought and contributes to shallower thinking. When we constantly task-switch, we stay in the shallow end of cognitive processing and never fully develop ideas or reach sophisticated solutions. Fragmenting our attention prevents us from ever getting into ‘flow,’ that highly productive, focused state where real breakthroughs occur.
Poorer Memory Consolidation is another drawback. Research shows that when people do more than one thing at a time, they struggle to transfer learning and experiences from short-term to long-term memory. Those constant distractions inhibit the fuller processing and storage of information for later retrieval. So while we may think we are getting twice as much done by multitasking, we retain far less because content winds up in the brain’s temporary holding area rather than being solidly committed to memory.
In attempting to keep so many balls in the air, we end up reduced to constantly shifting our focus. We disengage from any one task fully and rarely give deeper issues or complex projects the sustained concentration required. We end up addicted to input rather than insight. Developing ‘continuous partial attention’ prevents the kind of patient, penetrating thinking that leads to expertise and achievement. The fact that the average person now checks their phone 150 times a day speaks to our collective loss of concentration!
Think about the people you meet and the conversations you have. How do you feel, when you know that people are only half-present with you? Are you that person?
Devices constantly compete for our attention. When we are perpetually scanning smartphones and computer screens while also trying to engage with others, it signals that those devices are taking priority. Face-to-face conversations suffer, intimacy is slowly eroded, and issues remain unresolved in the face of authentic communication. Resentment builds up, betrayals are frequent and we struggle to connect long-term. Even the presence of smartphones can reduce the quality of an in-person interaction. Multitasking conveys dismissiveness and implies others are an inconvenient distraction rather than worthy of full focus. The negative impact on relationships can be destructive and detrimental to us; we remain social animals!
Multitasking also requires a huge amount of mental effort and self-control. All that resisting distraction, shifting gears between tasks, fighting the desire to procrastinate, and trying to keep track of different information streams in your head depletes stores of glucose in the brain’s frontal lobe. Since glucose powers our executive functioning skills and fuels self-discipline, multitasking steadily erodes the mental reserves needed to stay focused and productive throughout the day. It also leads to the depletion of willpower and an increase in procrastination.
While occasional light multitasking won’t do too much harm, regularly heavy-duty multitasking negatively impacts concentration, efficiency, productivity, performance, and even happiness. Over time, chronic multitasking and the associated stress can take a real toll in the form of burnout, insomnia, anxiety, and other health issues.
Though adapting single-task strategies in an interruption-rich digital age poses challenges, doing so successfully could not only boost productivity but lead to less stress; fewer mistakes; deeper thinking and learning; and more meaningful connections. As temptation lurks behind every ping, pop-up, and push notification, vigilance against multitasking needs to become a top priority.
Our performance, psychological well-being, and personal relationships stand to gain significantly by consistently giving our undivided attention to the task at hand.
The costs simply outweigh the benefits. Instead of prizing our ability to multitask, we should focus on doing one thing at a time fully and wholeheartedly by single-tasking. Leaning into Mindfulness is a great strategy for combating this as well as living a more grounded, centred and fulfilling life!
Our work and our minds will thank us.
As a mindfulness practitioner and life-design coach, I help clients focus on well-being and personal growth and make life choices that prioritize their mental and emotional health. This leads to personal freedom and independence allowing the person to blossom and manifest the life they deserve. Connect with me if you are seeking to go forward on your journey.