Is Multitasking Effective?

What is multitasking? Multitasking is when a person do more than one thing at the same time. Whenever there is an urgency to do things faster, we tend to do all those things that we need to do at one time. We often think that we can do things faster and be more productive when we multi task. This has become natural for lots of people today for their hectic schedules yet having to do so many things. As a matter of fact, this is one trait that employers are looking for in an applicant. But does multitasking really increase productivity?  Is it really effective?

Some experts do not think that multi tasking is really effective. It has been studied that doing 2 or more things at the same time is most probably less effective and less efficient compared to just having your complete focus doing one thing at a time. Studies shows that it does more bad than good and it diminishes one person’s productivity. According to experts, it is not possible for a person to do two things or tasks at one time without jeopardizing each. For a normal person, it takes the brain 3-5 times longer to react and process when multi tasking, resulting to a much slower performance compared to just focusing on one task at one time or each task separately.

David Meyer, a university psychology professor spent a lot of his time studying what multi tasking does to a person. The research of David Meyer shows that multi tasking is not just inefficient, but it also can bring problems and danger to the one doing it. Based on his studies, it is not instant, or it takes time to warm up from one task to another. The delay in transition time from doing different things back and forth from one thing to another is the reason why multi tasking decreases productivity. Focusing on one task increases the speed and accuracy of a person to do that certain task. The job that a person focuses his/her mind into is 100% better performed compared to a person doing many things at the same time.

Have you tried writing a letter or an article while singing a song? It seems impossible to do these things at the same time. You’d probably sing the article that you’re writing, write the song that you’re singing or write the article mixed with the song lyrics while singing the wrong lyrics. The point is, it does not help you do these things efficiently and accurately.

If you really want to do things fast and accurate, what you have to do is try to focus first on the first task and finish it as fast as you can, then when you’re done, that’s the only time you switch to another task. Finish one task before you do another. It will also be less stressing for a person to not multi task for thinking too much and doing too much things results stress to the brain.

By: Bernard Jonathan Ona

Related posts:

No related posts.