Is Multitasking Bad for You?
So, you are sitting through a 3 hour lecture on Change Management and you decide to grab your iPhone to knock out a few emails to your clients about your availability for the following week. As you are about to compose your email you see a note from an old college friend on a mud slide in Peru. You click on a link to a short news video and then perk up when you hear the instructor mention the word “coffee.”
Could this type of multitasking make you stupid? According to studies conducted by Dr. Clifford Nass at Stanford University, the answer is “Yes.” Apparently if you are a chronic media multitasker, then you are affecting three components of deep thought; filtering, filing, and switching.
The first, filtering, is your ability to discern between incoming information that is relevant versus information that is not. Filing is your ability to manage memory or file information in your head. The third, switching, is your ability to switch with ease from one task to another.
Now, to be clear, the good doctor is talking about media multitasking and not task-based multitasking, which I haven’t been able to distinguish yet based on his writing. Furthermore, I believe that he is specifically talking about multitasking on unrelated subjects. His research did not address multitasking on related information that many believe reinforces memory and cognitive function.
One important exception to the rule that media multitasking diminishes cognitive function is music. Apparently, if you listen to music while you work, you will be ok.
For more information, check out Nass’ work at http://www.stanford.edu/~nass/research.html
Marc Dreyfus
