Why Your Devices Are Probably Eroding Your Productivity (kqed.org)

University of California, San Francisco neuroscientist Adam Gazzaley and California State University, Dominguez Hills professor emeritus Larry Rosen explain in their book "The Distracted Mind: Ancient Brains in a High Tech World" why people have trouble multitasking, and specifically why one's productivity output is lowered when keeping up with emails, for example. Lesley McClurg writes via KQED Science: When you engage in one task at a time, the prefrontal cortex works in harmony with other parts of the brain, but when you toss in another task it forces the left and right sides of the brain to work independently. The process of splitting our attention usually leads to mistakes. In other words, each time our eyes glance away from our computer monitor to sneak a peak at a text message, the brain takes in new information, which reduces our primary focus. We think the mind can juggle two or three activities successfully at once, but Gazzaley says we woefully overestimate our ability to multitask. In regard to answering emails, McClurg writes: Gazzaley stresses that our tendency to respond immediately to emails and texts hinders high-level thinking. If you're working on a project and you stop to answer an email, the research shows, it will take you nearly a half-hour to get back on task. "When a focused stream of thought is interrupted it needs to be reset," explains Gazzaley. "You can't just press a button and switch back to it. You have to re-engage those thought processes, and recreate all the elements of what you were engaged in. That takes time, and frequently one interruption leads to another." In other words, repetitively switching tasks lowers performance and productivity because your brain can only fully and efficiently focus on one thing at a time. Plus, mounting evidence shows that multitasking could impair the brain's cognitive abilities. Stanford researchers studied the minds of people who regularly engage in several digital communication streams at once. They found that high-tech jugglers struggle to pay attention, recall information, or complete one task at a time. And the habit of multitasking could lower your score on an IQ test, according to researchers at the University of London. The saving grace is that we don't need to ditch technology as "there's a time and place for multitasking," according to Gazzaley. "If you're in the midst of a mundane task that just has to get done, it's probably not detrimental to have your phone nearby or a bunch of tabs open. The distractions may reduce boredom and help you stay engaged. But if you're finishing a business plan, or a high-level writing project, then it's a good idea to set yourself up to stay focused."

Comments

TL;DR

[Anonymous Coward]

"People can't multitask" because reasons.

Re:TL;DR

[drinkypoo]

Or is that just me?

It's not just you. Science says that women are better at multitasking than men, but they're still shit at it. We all are. We have to context switch as surely as does a processor.

Re:TL;DR

[zifn4b]

"People can't multitask" because reasons.

Sudden burst of common sense here. I find it amusing that even Fortune 500 companies can't seem to figure this out. First of all, the level of noise in a corporation in all kinds of forms like corporate email, meetings, etc. is pretty bad. What's worse is that lack of workflow management. All the time, I find myself working on a task only to be interrupted to work on a "this just in and on fire" task only to be interrupted to work on a "this just in and on fire" task ad infinitum.

Let me break this down. Person P starts working on task A only to be interrupted to focus on task B only to be interrupted to focus on task C only to be interrupted to work on task D. Assuming this pattern doesn't go on at the same rate of speed infinitely thus allowing the completion of the task at the top of the stack, eventually what it looks like is this:

Task D completes
[pop]
Resume Task C and recall context
Complete Task C
[pop]
Resume Task B and recall context
Complete Task B
[pop]
Resume Task A and recall context
Complete Task A
[pop]
[empty stack, find new task]

If only corporations new how much productivity was lost at the Resume Task X and recall context step. But you know, keep whipping us for being slackers. The other thing executives don't seem to comprehend is if the deluge of new "on fire" tasks keeps coming in interrupting the one before it, absolutely ZERO work gets done because all the work is half done. This is why LEAN has a concept of waste and work in progress limits. It really works C suite if you could be bothered to read an actual book instead of thinking you already know everything.

Personally I disagree

[diesalesmandie]

I find that it is good to take mini breaks to freshen the mind, especially if you are stuck in a "thinking rut". YMMV...

Re:Welcome distraction

[pr0fessor]

I have no problem multi-tasking so long as they are simple tasks and not problem solving... Some times I need to distract myself from a difficult problem making coffee, a snack, or whatever thoughtless diversion... email though is too much of a diversion since at least some of it actually important.

Re:Only if you're an idiot

[Anonymous Coward]

Wow, a manager who is manipulative (micro manager) and incompetent at a technical job. How surprising! I suppose next you're going to tell me they stab coworkers in the back, particularly other managers.

FTFY. Pretty standard for managers, regardless of gender.

The zone

[MrKaos]

Remember getting in the zone when coding and then that moron would come up to you then talk about their car, lawn or how their daughter was attending a private school and other mundane information I don't want to know.

They're the people that think multitasking is something more than a bullshit buzzword to be thrown around as a criticism of people who are able to concentrate on the task at hand. I doubt they would feel the same way if they were told to cross a busy road and only look at their phone while they did.