Persuasive Essay On Multitasking

Multitasking is something we partake in daily, the need to be working on as many tasks as humanly possible has infected every facet of our lives. From the constant barrage of technology, the rush in which we approach household chores and the perceived godliness of multitasking at work, we are taught from a young age that we make the best use of our time when multitasking. Recent studies, however, have shown that multitasking can lead to significant loss in productivity, long-term health problems, trouble retrieving stored information and potentially serious accidents. While multitasking may be fine in a pinch, we should, as a society, place greater significance on the ability to focus on one task at a time. This will lead to a less stressed,

A research study conducted by the Institute of Psychiatry found that “Workers distracted by e-mails and phone calls suffer a fall in IQ more than twice that found in marijuana smokers” (309). In a day and age where almost all of us have cell phones that are constantly receiving e-mails, phone calls and texts, unless we shut our phones off or set them aside it is nearly impossible not to be distracted by them. While we may think it 's harmless to check them every once in a while, and that may be fine if we are not engaged in an important task, it can become incredibly detrimental if we are trying to focus on something of significance. A study at the University of California at Irving found that “workers took an average of twenty-five minutes to recover from interruptions such as phone calls or answering e-mail and return to their original task” (309). While studies show a clearly detrimental effect on multitasking at work, managers and executives continue to place a great importance on this “skill” when hiring and are potentially losing millions every year because of

Psychology professor Russel Poldrack found through his research that “Multitasking adversely affects how you learn. Even if you learn while multitasking, that learning is less flexible and more specialized, so you cannot retrieve the information as easily” (310). With the ever growing amount of technology being introduced in and out of the classroom, students are having an increasingly difficult time focusing on any one task. The constant barrage of available information can be overwhelming at times and for some, it can be difficult to devote enough focus on the most important task at hand. While a report from the Kaiser Family Foundation concluded by stating that “After all, information is power, and if one can process more information all at once, perhaps one can be more powerful” (311), it stands to reason that if the information you take in while multitasking is harder to retain and retrieve then it is less useful than information learned while focusing solely on one