The cost of multi tasking

 

Multitasking can seem like an advantage, especially in the business world, but constantly performing several tasks at once can lead to a drop in productivity. The bad effects of multitasking take their toll by not allowing you to recover from excessive stimulation that bombards you on a daily basis. Be aware of the negative side effects of trying to accomplish too much at once, and complete one task at a time to regain control over your responsibilities.

Today, the vast majority of us multitask while using our smartphones. We play games, email, surf social media, text, and use apps and other functions while watching television, eating, doing work, or while "engaged" in a conversation with another person. Multitasking has become such a regular part of our lives that most of us believe we do it well—and few imagine it could actually be dangerous.

As most of you know the pros of multi tasking , i just want to introduce you with the dark side of doing multi tasking that can actually have alarming consequences.While doing many things at once has its pros, these advantages come with drawbacks.

Multitasking is associated with harm to our brains.

A study found that people who were frequent media multitaskers had reductions in their brains’ grey matter—specifically, in areas related to cognitive control and the regulation of motivation and emotion. 

Multitasking can lead to memory problems.

It is found that chronic media multitaskers exhibited weakness in both working memory (the ability to store relevant information while working on a task) and long-term memory (the ability to store and recall information over longer periods of time)

Multitasking can lead to increased distractibility.

Multitasking is distracting. While a person is focused on multiple tasks at hand, she or he is distracted from everything else. This distraction can become chronic. The person may not be able to focus on anything else. Simple or singular tasks may not draw enough focus and one may be drawn to minor tasks that are repetitive and what can be automated or done swiftly without much brainwork.

Procrastination & Misplaced Priorities

Multitasking doesn’t segregate tasks based on priority or significance. It enables a misconception that a person can get a task done anytime and anyway. This sows procrastination.

Declining Quality

Multitasking demands haste. In some cases it can become efficiency and increased production but in some cases it can lead to a compromise in quality. There can be plenty of mistakes too.

Multitasking increases chronic stress.

The constant bombardment of information to which they were trying to respond elevated their stress responses, which means that chronic multitasking can lead to chronic stress.

Multitasking increases depression and social anxiety.

Multitasking makes you less productive and less efficient.

To Multitask, or not to Multitask

A thorough understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of multitasking is the key to using it appropriately. The best way to complete your tasks is to focus on the most important and time-consuming tasks first. Short tasks can easily be completed and usually do not require intense concentration. This avoids wasting time going back and forth on different tasks. However, this is not an absolute rule, as there are several other factors that come to play. Factors such as work habits and work ethic should be considered, as well as the nature of the job as a whole.