📗 Understand
✦
Nov 11, 2024
✦
7 min read
Do you have more than five tabs open while working? Do you check your emails while trying to "focus" on a deep task? This article is for you.
Multitasking has become common in response to the demands of society, both at work and in personal life. That’s why in this article, we’re going to talk about:
Demystifying the Concept of Multitasking
Hyperconnectivity, the fertile ground for multitasking
The Hidden Costs of Multitasking
Solutions to limit it
The goal? Helping you better manage your time and, most importantly, avoid distractions, stay focused on one task, and lighten your mental load as much as possible. So grab a coffee, some snacks, and enjoy the read!
👁 Demystifying the Concept
Let’s start with a quick game to break down what multitasking really is.Among the following situations, in which do you think the brain actually performs both actions simultaneously?
A) Talking while walking
B) Texting while watching a Netflix series
C) Listening to a podcast while doing the dishes (yes, that’s what I do)
D) Option D
If you answered A) and C), you’re right!
Here’s why. First, actions like walking or doing the dishes are automated by the brain. Through experience and repetition, they can be done almost without thinking. As a result, an automated task and one that requires attention don’t conflict with each other.
Second, the two actions don’t engage the same cognitive functions. For example, walking involves motor skills, while talking involves language. Two activities relying on different cognitive resources can be done simultaneously without interference. In these specific cases, multitasking is possible.
However, two activities that aren’t automated and that engage the same cognitive functions both require active and focused attention. Physiologically, it’s impossible to fully concentrate on both at the same time.
Texting and watching an episode of Vikings both involve vision and require particular attention, making it impossible to give 100% focus to both.
So what happens in the brain when we can’t really pay attention to two things at once?
Initially, the term "multitasking" referred to a feature of computer operating systems. Interestingly, it was IBM that coined the term in 1965 to describe its OS/360 operating system.
It’s not about running multiple tasks simultaneously, but rather about pausing them alternately, allowing several tasks to be “in progress” and moving forward, thus boosting productivity. This rapid switching from one task to another, known as “context switching,” creates the illusion of simultaneity.
Through this explanation, you can see that what we call multitasking, much like in computing, is somewhat misleading.
Despite our impression, the brain doesn’t execute multiple active tasks simultaneously—it processes actions sequentially, switching quickly from one to the other. This speed of transition can give us the illusion that we’re handling multiple things at once.
What we refer to as multitasking is actually more of a “task-switching” process, a back-and-forth between different activities, screens, or apps.
That’s the mechanism I’ll be talking about today—a mental juggling act that impacts most people in today’s ultra-connected society.
📱 Hyperconnectivity: The Perfect Breeding Ground for Multitasking
You’re at a party, chatting with a group, when a voice from the other side of the room says your name. Instantly, your attention shifts to the conversation involving the person who mentioned you… and you lose track of your original conversation.
This is the “cocktail party” phenomenon, theorized by Colin Cherry in 1953. It shows just how fragile your attention is and how easily it can shift when something triggers it.
Thing is, today, the digital environment we live in amplifies this “attentional” volatility.
An email arrives. A WhatsApp message. A Slack notification pops up. An avalanche of potential distractions, combined with instant access to an endless stream of information online.
Each of these stimuli urges your brain to shift focus, forcing it into constant task-switching, far more frequently than before. Technology is a powerful driver of modern multitasking.
In modern corporate culture, multitasking is often seen as a virtue—a misleading symbol of efficiency and time-saving. While technological tools have revolutionized the way we work, enhancing collaboration and simplicity, they’ve also fueled a frantic pursuit of overperformance.
We’re constantly encouraged to juggle between deep tasks and short-term notifications from emails and messages requiring immediate response.
According to The Anatomy of Work 2022, more than half of workers (56%) feel obligated to respond to notifications right away. They also switch between about ten apps daily.
This constant digital solicitation and pressure for instant replies foster multitasking and impact our attention span. With so many stimuli, focus in front of a screen has drastically diminished, dropping to just 44 seconds in 2021 (Attention Span, Gloria Mark).
🤯 The Hidden Costs of Multitasking
#1 - Mental Overload
When I used to take exams, I often noticed the same thing. Once I’d written down everything I knew on the day, I almost instantly forgot a large part of what I had studied. I later discovered through research that this phenomenon has a name: the Zeigarnik effect.
In the 1920s, during a dinner with friends at a restaurant in Vienna, Lithuanian-born student Bluma Zeigarnik noticed something interesting. The servers took several long, complex orders without writing anything down, and they made no mistakes when delivering the orders to the kitchen. However, once the order was paid for, they had no memory of what the customers had ordered.
From this observation, Zeigarnik and her mentor Kurt Lewin continued their research and made an important discovery: we remember interrupted tasks better than those we complete.
Every task we start but don’t finish stays in a corner of your brain until the task is completed. The Zeigarnik effect creates a “task tension” for each unfinished task, keeping it mentally accessible.
Simply put, this tension acts as an attention tax—a “residue of attention” that prevents you from fully focusing on the next task.
On the one hand, the Zeigarnik effect can be a powerful memory tool. On the other hand, it can be a catalyst for mental load, with unfinished tasks piling up throughout the day.
Distractions, notifications, and inactive tabs are all obstacles that constantly interrupt us and prevent us from finishing what we start. These interruptions intensify the Zeigarnik effect, leaving you in a state of mental agitation and reducing your productivity.
Just like leaving multiple apps open and running in the background will drain your smartphone battery faster, the more mental tasks you have active at once, the more you exhaust yourself. 🪫
#2 - Lost Time
In addition to the cognitive cost, there’s what Gloria Mark calls a “switching cost” in her book Attention Span. Every time the brain shifts between tasks, it pays a time penalty. This is the time your brain needs to refocus on the new task.
Switching from one task to another requires a complex process: disengaging the neurons involved in the first task and then activating the neurons needed for the second. According to Gloria Mark, the average time it takes to fully refocus is 23 minutes and 15 seconds.
Now imagine that accumulated over a day, a week…
The more frequent these attention shifts are, the more your productivity declines.
#3 - Stress and the Tendency Toward Mini-Tasks
Gloria Mark highlighted the significant impact of multitasking on our psychological well-being (I’ll dive deeper into this in a future edition). Every time you juggle between tasks, your brain releases a considerable amount of cortisol, a hormone linked to stress when in excess.
But cortisol isn’t the only chemical reaction at play.
Do you know that small rush you feel after sending an email or replying to a message? That little burst of euphoria? That’s dopamine kicking in.As the “motivation” hormone, dopamine regulates our reward circuit, providing instant satisfaction each time you complete a task, no matter how small. This pleasant feeling drives you to seek out more “mini-tasks” to accomplish, creating a feedback loop where you constantly feel like you’re making progress.
This loop is dangerous because it can give the illusion of productivity, when in reality, you’re just skimming the surface, never diving into deep reflection or substantial work.
Daniel J. Levitin describes this well in The Organized Mind: Thinking Straight in the Age of Information Overload. ⬇️
It seems that technology has cleverly taken advantage of this mechanism. Your brain is naturally drawn to novelty. That’s one of the reasons behind the irresistible urge to switch from one tab to another or juggle between tasks.
💊 Tips to Help you Reduce it
Limiting multitasking is crucial for concentration, productivity, and even mental health. The challenge is that for some tasks, emails need quick responses, and clients require urgent assistance. The key is to intentionally alternate: intense focus periods and more alert, flexible times for communication and handling requests.
Here are a few tips to maximize your single-tasking moments:
#1 - Organize
Time-boxing: Plan blocks of time in your day dedicated to specific activities where you’ll be completely disconnected from outside distractions.
Check emails at dedicated times: The same goes for company messaging platforms. In most cases, these should remain asynchronous.
Create a to-do list the night before: This “brain dump” counters the Zeigarnik effect. Acknowledging ongoing tasks and writing down when you plan to finish them helps reduce mental load. You’ll return the next day better prepared to focus during your deep work sessions.
Take screen-free breaks: Plan pauses, like going for a walk, to recharge your energy and better balance your cortisol and dopamine levels.
#2 - Set Boundaries with Distractions
Limit notifications: Turn off non-essential notifications. Better yet, put your phone in airplane mode.
Block distractions: Set a blocking rule on the app Jomo, available for free on iPhone, iPad and Mac. While you’re at work, block distractions by starting a Session. With just a few taps, you can shield yourself from the constant interruptions of certain apps. Social media, for example, is rarely useful during your workday—quite the opposite! So take charge and block them! (in 4 Taps)
Keep your phone in another room: During deep work sessions, consider leaving your phone elsewhere. Personally, I leave mine in the bedroom until at least noon when working from home.
Communicate with your surroundings/colleagues: Invest in noise-canceling headphones and let people know in advance that you don’t want to be disturbed during focus periods!
If there's one thing you should remember: multitasking drains your energy, mentally exhausts you, and makes you less productive. Mastering your focus has become an essential skill in the 21st century. It's crucial to reassess your relationship with screens and invest in strategies that strengthen your ability to stay focused.
