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Multitasking Considered Harmful

Aza Raskin can only think of one thing at a time.

And so can you.

Yes, you. Stop sneering, and give this a try…

Time yourself doing the following two actions:

1. Spell aloud, letter by letter, “Jewelry is shiny” at the same time as you write your full name.

2. Spell aloud, letter by letter, “Jewelry is shiny” and then, after you are done with that, write your name.

It took me 18 seconds to do the tasks concurrently, and 8 seconds to the tasks sequentially. However, if you practice spelling “Jewelry is shiny” aloud for a couple minutes, it’ll become automatic. You’ll no longer have to think to do it, and you’ll be able to complete the two tasks at the same time without incurring the switching cost.

What’s the lesson to be learned? If you want a boost in productivity, try rethinking how you multitask so that you only ever need to think about one thing at a time.

I came out about the same. How about you?

As they say, read the whole thing.

(Bonus Science Friday: In the comments, there’s a link to some of the evidence that our ability to switch between tasks is much more limited than we subjectively believe: Is Multitasking More Efficient? Shifting Mental Gears Costs Time, Especially when Shifting to Less Familiar Tasks.)