Multitasking Does NOT Increase Productivity!
Last week, I talked about daily, mainly electronic, distractions keeping you from focusing on your work. That post may have resonated with some of you – I know I struggle with turning off distractions and multitasking, too. I want to continue on the theme of obstacles to productivity and talk about the fallacy of multitasking.
What is Multitasking?
Hmmmh. Checking your Facebook page while you are talking to your mom on the phone; answering emails during a team conference call; texting during class; watching a TV program with a news ticker scrolling at the bottom of the screen while playing a game on your smartphone or tablet device – any of these sound familiar? Ever forget where you were or what you were thinking as you shift from one activity to another?
Your ability to “manage” all of these things at the same time means that you are being productive, right? You are “multitasking” and, thus, it’s all good.
But it’s not. Really.
Merriam-Webster defines multitasking as “the performance of multiple tasks at one time.”
That sounds efficient, doesn’t it? In fact, people used to be proud of saying that they could multitask easily — it was a desired skill for some jobs! But time, and science, have shown that people make more mistakes when they multitask — not doing either task well (Napier, 2014; Rubenstein, Meyer, & Evans, 2001).
As we’ve learned more about the science — what’s happening in your brain while you juggle your work and tasks — we’ve come to realize that multitasking is not the answer to being productive. In fact, it is estimated that it takes “20-40 percent more time to finish a list of jobs when you multitask, compared with completing the same list of tasks in sequence” (Mind Tools, 2016). Multiple studies support this conclusion (APS, 2016; Draheim, Hicks, & Engle, 2016; Johnson et al., 2017; Kalish & Aebersold, 2010; Napier, 2014; Rubenstein et al., 2001; Yen et al., 2017).
It takes “20-40 percent more time to finish a list of jobs when you multitask, compared with completing the same list of tasks in sequence” (Mind Tools, 2016).
Multitasking comes down to concentration and focus.
Concentrating on one task at a time allows us to give that one task our undivided attention. When we are focused, we are more efficient – we lose that efficiency when we switch between multiple tasks. Switching from working on a written paper to checking email, for example, requires our brains to have to focus on a new activity and then reset back to what we were doing before we switched activities. When interrupted, I’m sure you’ve noticed it may take you some time to refocus and get back into the swing of what you were doing. According to Yen et al. (2017) multitasking could be defined as a “rapid cognitive process of task switching” (p. 1264).
Task-switching is the “ability to allocate attentive resources to several tasks sequentially and fluently reallocate attentive resources from one task to another” (Draheim et al., 2016, p. 133). In other words, the ability to remember what you were doing, why you were doing it, and what you were thinking about what you were doing before you got distracted by another task that then demanded your attention (Draheim et al., 2016).
Life Imitating Theory? As I was writing this section I was in the middle of a sentence when the phone rang. I took the phone call, hung up, and looked back on this page … “now what was I going to say?” I thought! I had to laugh — what a perfect example of the brain needing to reset because of task-switching!
Research shows that, despite what we think, we don’t do our best work when we switch our focus back and forth among projects. As Draheim et al. noted, “task switching
is … relevant to your ability to perform your job” (2016, p. 134). I wrote a little about this in my post on how to stop procrastinating.
Let’s see what the research shows about multitasking and task-switching. There are many studies in neuroscience and the health sciences such as psychology, medicine, and nursing about multitasking, task-switching, and work interruptions. I’m just going to talk about a few.
Multitasking = Task-Switching
“When we think we’re multitasking we’re actually multiswitching. That is what the brain is very good at doing – quickly diverting its attention from one place to the next. We think we’re being productive. We are, indeed, being busy. But in reality we’re simply giving ourselves extra work.”
― Michael Harris
According to multiple research studies, the effort of “task-switching” from one task to another takes MORE time, than just focusing on one task at a time (APS, 2016; Draheim, et al., 2016; Kalish & Aebersold, 2010; Napier, 2014; Rubenstein et al., 2001).
Dr. Nancy Napier, Professor of Strategy and International Business at Boise State University, wrote a post about multitasking and stated that “the brain doesn’t really do tasks simultaneously, as we thought (hoped) it might. In fact, we just switch tasks quickly. … [With each task switch] there is a stop/start process that goes on in the brain” (para. 4).
Dr. Napier goes on to caution “that start/stop/start process is rough on us: rather than saving time, it costs time (even very small micro seconds), it’s less efficient, we make more mistakes, and over time it can be energy sapping” (Napier, 2014, para. 5).
If you want to test your ability to multitask, Dr. Napier provides a short exercise in her post to show you how multitasking affects your concentration, effort, and mistakes.
One reason that working on multiple tasks at once is inefficient is that our working memory, the “ability to simultaneously maintain, process, and manipulate chunks of goal-relevant information,” is limited (Draheim et al., 2016, p. 136). It can only handle so much information (3-5 chunks) at any one time; though some people have a larger working memory capacity than others (Draheim et al., 2016).
Multiple tasks are multiple chunks of information. The brain has to “reset” with each start/stop/start process related to switching from one task to another. The brain has to reconfigure the working memory — it has to refocus by remembering all the “rules” of the activity such as, how to perform the first task, why the task was being done in the first place, etc. — from the task it was just performing. Draheim and colleagues called this deactivation of one task set and reactivation of the new task set (i.e., the rules).
Nurses are Multitaskers
“You can do two things at once, but you can’t focus effectively on two things at once.”
― Gary Keller
The neuroscience research study findings have implications for nursing students, faculty, and practicing nurses.
Students: For students, I will tell you that you can’t concentrate on what you are supposed to be learning if you are texting during class or redirecting your focus to your phone or computer or whatever! Didn’t get that important point or concept? How could you when your brain is trying to process too many chunks of information at once? – from your instructor, your text messages, your calendar alerts, taking notes, responding to an email, etc.
BTW: Don’t think your faculty don’t know that you are multitasking … we know and we don’t like it.
Faculty: A lot of multitasking goes on at faculty meetings, too! Faculty are so pressed for time – too many things to get done – that we bring work to faculty meetings. Grading papers, checking email, organizing class notes, etc. I have been guilty too, I admit it. The person leading the faculty meeting doesn’t like it either.
But, think about it. Multitasking during class or a meeting is disrespectful to the instructor or speaker, the person chairing the meeting, and to the people who are being attentive! Your full presence is required to grasp concepts and understand those subtle points that may make a difference in someone’s life. Faculty need to provide input to make informed decisions that will affect both faculty and students.
You can’t engage thoughtfully if you are not paying attention. That’s the bottom line.
Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This
Nurses: Yen and colleagues (2017) studied nursing workflow as it related to multitasking and task-switching. In the course of a normal workday, nurses are called upon to juggle multiple tasks at once including communication with multiple stakeholders, patient education, medication administration, documentation, and hands-on tasks. Because errors can occur when one’s focus is fragmented, frequent interruptions or multitasking can affect patient and nurse outcomes. Yen et al. studied nursing workflow “to develop strategies to minimize errors and maximize processes that enhance patient safety” (p. 1264).
Yen et al. (2017) conducted a time and motion study to observe and evaluate clinical workflow (defined as the duration of tasks or steps for a process or an event). An electronic standardized time tracking tool was adapted for a medical-surgical unit, three student data collectors were trained, and inter-observer reliability for data collection was validated. This was a pilot study conducted in one unit of one hospital for the purposes of testing the data collection method, so the generalizability of the findings is limited. Nevertheless, I felt their methods were strong, so let’s look at their findings.
“Looking for a Similar Assignment? Get Expert Help at an Amazing Discount!
Use Discount Code “Newclient”for a 15% Discount!”
The post Multitasking Does NOT Increase Productivity! appeared first on Student Homeworks.
