The Effects of Multitasking

If you look up any articles on multitasking, you’ll find very few on the subject that are not designed to show you how to do it better, or why it is an important skill to master. But it is not an important skill. Any good effects of multitasking are, as Marcus Buckingham has pointed out, just a myth.

According to a study conducted in 2005 by Hewlett-Packard, distractions like emails and phone calls while working on other tasks will reduce your IQ, on average, by about 10 points. This is the same as missing a night’s sleep, and more than twice the loss you would get after smoking marijuana.

I’ve been experimenting on this, before reading about this study, and I was coming to a similar conclusion.

Effects of Multitasking on Reading

With a movie on in the background, which I had seen before, but generally find entertaining, I tried reading the first chapter of a novel. My computer was on. I didn’t reply to any emails, but scanned the three that I received. After a half hour, I had read only seven pages, and had difficulty recalling the names of the characters.

With the computer closed and the television off, I then read more than 20 pages in a half hour, in addition to the seven which I had half-read in the first half hour.

Effects of Multitasking on Conversation

While a friend was playing solitaire on her computer, I began a conversation on a topic I knew to be of great interest to her. (I still have not told her I was conducting an experiment.) I simply introduced the subject by telling her of an article I had read earlier in the day. She expressed interest in it, but the feedback she provided was quite predictable. A lot of nodding. She turned away from her game several times to ask me to repeat points of great interest to her, and that was about it.

Later, while walking through the park, she turned to me and said, “Could you tell me about that article again. I don’t think I was really paying attention.” We then had a twenty-minute engaging discussion on the subject.

Effects of Multitasking on Driving

Where I live in Canada, it is now illegal to text or use a hand-held cellphone while driving.
In the U.S. Dept. of Transportation and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has concluded that drivers using hand-held devices are four times as likely to get into car crashes causing bodily injury.

As well, the University of Utah has concluded that using a cell phone delays a driver’s reactions as much as having a blood alcohol concentration of .08 percent.

Are you seeing a trend here? The effects of multitasking being compared to being drunk, being deprived of sleep, or being stoned. Does this really sound like something that should be considered as a desirable job skill? Is it really adding value to our lives?

For me, in the past three days since I’ve sworn off multitasking for one month, this is what I have found:

1. I’m getting more accomplished in less time.

2. I’m getting more enjoyment and learning more from each task.

3. Trivial and unnecessary tasks are being swept from my daily schedule.

4. My interactions with people are much more fulfilling.

For those who believe they are saving time, or being more productive by multitasking, I would suggest you try the reading experiment I described above. Time yourself, and see how many pages you get through, and how your retention fares.

Better yet, the next time someone on a cellphone cuts you off in traffic, follow them and ask them their opinion on the effects of multitasking. I bet they think they’re good multitaskers too!