We all want to believe we can shuffle between two or more tasks at the same time. Human beings take pride in the ability to multitask. Eating while doing a cross word puzzle or driving while texting (disclaimer: Don’t do it, you will die). However, psychologists believe there’s a plot twist to this and that what we know as multi tasking is just a myth. The brain in all of it’s complexities is on able to focus on one activity at a time.
Therefore, It alternates between cognitive activity one and two. Watching the television while ironing your clothes is just “tasking” as opposed to the already common notion. Consequently , research has proven that it is not even as productive as people like to believe. It is virtually impossible to give equal amounts of concentration to all your tasks at once and must mess at least one of them up.
The adverse effects of carrying out several tasks simultaneously is the strain it causes to the brain. It shortens the attention span. In 2011, the University of California, San Francisco published a research study showing how quickly alternating from one task to another impacts a person’s memory.
A person usually forgets a new things they learn due to lack to attention. Neuroscientist suggest that switching between tasks may not problem now but as you get older you’re ability to retain information would have depleted so much.
Nevertheless, the best solution in my opinion would be to come to peace with that fact that you cannot(well you can), but you shouldn’t do too many tasks simultaneously. It poses avoidable health effects.
It doesn’t boost productivity as much as you may believe and it certainly doesn’t save time. Write out a list of your tasks at hand. You could arrange them from most important to least important to avoid doing them all at once.