Can Students Really and Effectively Multitask?

Although there is controversy over whether multitasking is possible or if it saves time or increases productivity, people still continue to attempt to multitask. In a survey that I conducted, given to ten people, all ten people said they multitask; however not everyone agreed on whether or not it saved time or made them more productive. Interestingly, one person said he multitasked all the time, but stated it did not work at all, nor did it save time or make him more productive. Another person who said he multitasked occasionally suggested it did make him more productive, but he could not think of an example of when he multitasked. Three people even put limits on the number of tasks or amount of time you have in order to determine when multitasking can make you more productive or saves time. According to the American Psychological Association’s (APA) article “Multitasking: Switching Costs,” however, multitasking makes you less productive because your brain switches from one task to another relatively slowly. The reason behind this differing opinion could be the various definition of multitasking. There are many conflicting ideas on what multitasking is and whether or not it can be done.

According to the survey of ten people, multitasking can generally be defined as doing multiple things at the same time. However, one person defined multitasking as “being able to focus and work on more than one assignment.” This definition brings up the word “focus,” which could change the meaning of multitasking. The addition of the word “focus” could be applying the APA’s idea that the brain switches its concentration to focus on one task at a time, but quickly switching from task to task during a short time period. This can be seen when someone ...

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...lis believes multitasking can save time because the brain splits in half to work on two different tasks at once. The survey takers who say they multitask on a daily basis even having differing opinions on multitasking. Hayles believes we should change the teaching methods on the basis that most students need to multitask to maintain concentration, however, there are conflicting studies as to whether multitasking is helpful or a burden. With this in mind, it is hard to take any action regarding multitasking until there is more evidence that leans in one direction than the other as to whether or not multitasking can benefit us. Thus, more studies need to occur involving real life situations to determine whether or not multitasking is beneficial, and there also needs to be a more solid definition of what multitasking is in order to determine if it is beneficial or not.