Multitasking skills?

There was a job interview I had in the not-too-distant past when the hiring manager asked me a peculiar question:

“So, how are your multitasking skills?”

Now, as a former student who minored in cognitive science, and as someone who dabbles in mindfulness meditation, I felt tempted to go into a spiel about the myth of “multitasking skills” and how multitasking is, in actuality, not a skill at all.  However, knowing it wasn’t the time or place for a science talk, I spoke instead about concentration, highlighting how my ability to focus allowed me to complete tasks thoroughly and efficiently, one at a time.

Well, I didn’t get a call back from the hiring manager (which, in retrospect, was fine with me).  Still, to this day, I hear similar anecdotes from friends and colleagues about job interviews.  Why are some hiring managers asking about “multitasking skills,” as if such a skill set existed?

What multitasking means

Let’s put the topic in historical context.  The word originated from the computing profession back in the 1960s.  Originally, multitasking referred to what computers could do, which was run several programs at once.  In this context, the term was akin to multiprogramming or multiprocessing.

It wasn’t until later that the field of business management snagged the term and began using it to refer to human activity in the workplace.  And yet, there’s a problem with using the word this way.  Human beings aren’t computers, and our brains aren’t multiprocessors.  Computing professionals were right to say computers multitask.  Business managers, though, were mistaken to think people multitask likewise.

What multitasking doesn’t mean

So ‘multitasking’ is kind of a misnomer when applied to people.  Unlike computers, we can’t perform multiple tasks at the exact same time.  What we can do is shift back and forth between tasks.  The question is, how well can we do that?  Thus far, research from psychology and cognitive science gives a pretty unanimous answer.  Not very well.

It’s a bit counter-intuitive.  In theory, you’d think juggling multiple tasks at once would save time and effort.  In practice, the opposite happens.  No matter how well people think they multitask, everyone does it badly.  As psychologist Sherry Turkle explains,

When psychologists study multitasking, they do not find a story of new efficiencies.  Rather, multitaskers don’t perform as well on any of the tasks they are attempting.  But multitasking feels good because the body rewards it with neurochemicals that induce a multitasking ‘high.’  The high deceives multitaskers into thinking they are being especially productive.  In search of the high, they want even more (Turkle, 2011, 163).

In fact, research indicates something worse.  Multitasking is detrimental to concentration, productivity, and creativity.

Multitasking weakens concentration

By definition, multitasking means the opposite of concentration.  To concentrate is to focus and sustain your attention on one thing (maybe two) at a time (also known as monotasking, unitasking or single-tasking).  To multitask is to break focus by spreading your attention thin over many things.

Unfortunately, when people multitask—that is, shift back and forth between tasks—part of their attention (called “attention residue”) stays stuck on the prior task, at least for a while (Leroy, 2009).  This “attention residue” weakens concentration, because people need to stop thinking about one task in order to refocus their attention on another (Leroy and Schmidt, 2016).

Multitasking hurts productivity

The difference between concentration and multitasking has practical consequences for the workplace.  After all, we require a degree of concentration to be productive.  By weakening concentration, multitasking hurts productivity.

The reason has to do with what psychologists call switching costs.  Simply put, the price we pay for shifting back and forth between tasks is that the mind slows down.  Slower thinking is the cost for switching tasks (Meyer and Evens, 2001).  Switching costs are why multitaskers work inefficiently.  To perform two or more tasks well, we need to finish one task and refocus our attention on the next.  Otherwise, our performance suffers on both (Ophir et al. 2009).

Multitasking impedes creativity

The loss of productivity isn’t the only price we pay.  Constantly switching tasks, particularly in work settings, is commonly associated with stressful thoughts and emotions.  Therefore, it’s no surprise that workers who multitask have difficulty managing thoughts and emotions, which, in turn, impedes creativity.

(Of course, you need not be a cognitive scientist to know this—meditators and yogis have known it for centuries.)

To multitask or not to multitask?

Just to be clear, I don’t want this all to sound like a tirade against multitasking.  It’s fine for routine things that demand little concentration.  For highly habitual or zoning-out activities, such as sweeping the floor or jogging, I may talk to someone or listen to podcasts at the same time.

Nevertheless, for more productive and creative activity, concentration is an ally, and multitasking an Achilles heel.  Although our digital devices make it tempting, I wouldn’t recommend multitasking at work—and don’t multitask while driving to work either, as that’s exceptionally dangerous (see my article on Distracted Driving).

Here’s the bottom line: We’re human beings, not computers.  Let’s treat ourselves accordingly.  Unless you’re a machine, multitasking is a liability, not a skill.

 

PS: I listed references below for fellow science geeks out there.  Also feel free to leave a comment, or check out other Educational Topics on this site.

 

References

Leroy, Sophie. (2009). Why is it so hard to do my work? The challenge of attention residue when switching between work tasks. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 109: 2, 168-181. ISSN 0749-5978. doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2009.04.002

Leroy, Sophie and Schmidt, Aaron M. (2016). The effect of regulatory focus on attention residue and performance during interruptions. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 137, 218-235, ISSN 0749-5978. doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2016.07.006

Meyer, David E. and Evens, Jeffrey E. (2001). Executive Control of Cognitive Processes in Task Switching. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance 27: 4, 763-797. doi.org/10.1037//0096-1523.27.4.763

Ophir, Eyal,Nass, Clifford, and Wagner, Anthony D. (Sep 2009). Cognitive Control in Media Multitaskers. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 106: 37, 15583-15587. doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0903620106

Turkle, Sherry. (2011).  Alone Together: Why We Expect More From Technology And Less From Each Other.  New York: Basic Books.