Is multitasking effective? Does multitasking save time or does it really slow us down?
We are watching our children, while glancing at the news on TV, paying attention to our facebook chat, talking to our sister on the phone whom is in a fight with her husband. Now how effective are we? It really depends on the person.
Is multitasking effective?
The effectiveness of multitasking are dertermined by the combination of the preference for multitasking, intelligence, and the level of extraversion someone has. We call the preference someone has for multitasking “polychronicity.” Polychronicity has a clear biological component, it depends if someone is sensitive for cues or triggers from the outside world. This explains why extraverts are better at multitasking, than introverts are.
Are there side effects to multitasking?
There are some negative side effects to multitasking. In 2005 based on research by the Institute of Psychiatry at the University of London, it appeared that the IQ of employees decreases twice as much if they are interrupted by email and phone, as someone who smokes marihuana. Scientists at the University of California showed that it takes an employee 25 minutes to recover from an interruption by phone or email.
The mind-body perspective
From a mind, body, emotion perspective when a task requires a lot of concentration it is wise to focus on one activity alone. These tasks on its own require all your energy, and you’d deplete yourself eventually trying to multitask on high concentration tasks all at the same time. You need energy for each individual task, to perform them all at the same time. And the juggling act, alertness for the environment, all require their energy too. This is why multitasking are a major element in attracting energy related diseases like burnout.
Coming soon, NLP and how effective is multitasking?
