The Dangers Of Multitasking

INTRODUCTION
In today’s society, technology use has increased rapidly, and the need for multitasking correlates with that. Multitasking is the ability to perform well at two or more jobs at the same time (Van der Horst et al. 434). Technology is ever growing, and the ability to multitask has become more apparent. The need to understand multitasking has only recently become a topic of importance (Van der Horst et al. 434). Van der Horst mentions that with the quantity of technologies people have access to like email, instant messaging, and smart phones, people deal with multiple sources of information at once all the time (Van der Horst et al. 434). On average, people spend three minutes on a task and when technology is involved, only two

minutes on a task before switching to another task (Van der Horst et al. 434). One could see how this relates to the importance of understanding multitasking and the need for it, but it may also come with some costs as well.
CLAIMS
Decrease in Task Performance
Multitasking decreases task performance. Research has shown that when someone performs more than one task, their performance on the task decreases (Lin et al. 308). The Fort Worth Museum of Science and History conducted a study to focus on multitasking and its impact on one’s task performance (Lin et al. 308). Lin goes on to write that the study tested a sample of 168 museum guests of various ages. The guests listened to ten statements and answered true or false accordingly. Each correct answer resulted in one point. In addition, the study recorded the guests’ accuracy and time spent on a task. The guests then completed a visual task where they had to count the number of each of the five different shapes shown. Afterwards, the guests completed an auditory-visual task where they had to listen to statements while counting the shapes. Once completed, the accuracy of only the visual portion of the task was recorded and compared between the two (Lin et al. 313).
After calculations, there were some differences between the single tasking and multitasking in both speed and accuracy (Lin et al. 315). According to the online article, Springer Science+Business Media, Lin writes, “The graphs showed that the majority of the participants (96%) performed faster and more accurately when counting the shapes in the single-tasking condition than in the multitasking condition“ (Lin et al. 315).
Following the research and calculations, there were some limitations to the study. Lin writes that since the study used museum guests, it may not represent the general population (Lin et al. 321). Also, timers, stopwatches, and phones recorded the time, and for future studies, devices that are more accurate may be utilized (Lin et al. 321). Overall, the results helped show the significance of multitasking on performance; the more tasks one took on, speed and accuracy decreased (Lin et al. 321). Lin states that only 7 of the 168 guests were faster at multitasking compared to single-tasking (Lin et al. 321). In the business world, managers can relate to this when assigning tasks to its employees. A manager would know that they might be able to get more productivity out of their employees by assigning a single task to one person and splitting tasks up among all of the employees.
Increases Chances of a Car Crash
Cell phone usage in a car increases chances of a fatal crash.

There has been a decrease of fatal crashes in the United States, but at the same time, there has been an increase in fatal crashes from distracted drivers (Lim and Chi 198). A study was done at North Dakota State University where states that banned handheld cellphone usage while driving was compared to its statistics before the ban was implemented, along with other states without the ban (Lim and Chi 199). Lim and Chi say the primary source of their data came from The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, who keeps track of the annual fatal injuries in motor vehicles across the nation (Lim and Chi 199-200). Lim and Chi also looked at age groups as a category of determining cell phone usage (Lim and Chi 201). The main factors observed for this study were the age distribution of drivers and number of drivers per 100,000 drivers involved in fatal crashes during the year 2010 (Lim and Chi

200).
After analyzing the numbers, there was a significant drop in overall fatality rate with the cell phone ban (Lim and Chi 203). Lim and Chi write, “The coefficient estimate on cellphone ban in column (1) implies about 26 per cent lower overall traffic fatality rates in states that had the ban relative to states that had not” (Lim and Chi 203). Specifically, the cell phone ban reduced fatal car crash rates 8.4-9.4% for the 18-34 age group (Lim and Chi 208). There was also a significant drop in fatal crashes among the ages of 35-54, but slightly smaller than the 18-34 age group (Lim and Chi 208). Lastly, there was little effect on the 55+ age group who had a lower percentage that owned cell phones (Lim and Chi 208).
An Important limitation associated with this study is that the data collected ended in 2010 (Lim and Chi 209). In addition, more states have implemented the cell phone ban, and studies should include the impact of those states as well (Lim and Chi 209). The study also does not take interstate driving into account (Lim and Chi 209). For the results itself, cell phone bans provided significant reduction in car crashes for the 18-34 age group and some reductions in the 35-54 age groups (Lim and Chi 209). The majority of the workforce is going to be below the age of 55 and a cell phone policy would apply for them. Having a no cell phone policy in company cars will make a difference in the workforce and will continue to as a younger generation begins to move in to the workforce (Lim and Chi 209).
Decreases Focus on Tasks
Cell phone usage decreases focus on tasks. In today’s society, technology has become incorporated into our regular routine every day. A study published in the journal, Elsevier, focused on the effect of cell phones in the classroom (Bellur et al. 63). Bellur talks about how people can only process information when they pay attention to it, and attention is the “gateway” of the information processing approach (Bellur et al. 64). For this study, 361 students enrolled in a communication course at a university were surveyed (Bellur et al. 65). The participants answered questions on their use of cellphones and multitasking in the classroom (Bellur et al. 65). The study determined academic performance based on a four-point GPA scale (Bellur et al. 66). All participants owned a cell phone; therefore, the study asked specific questions about internet browsing capabilities, email, and texting (Bellur et al. 66). Then multitasking with technology and its effect on the participants’ GPA was observed (Bellur et al. 66).
After collecting the results, it was determined that multitasking during class was negatively associated with a student’s GPA (Bellur et al. 67). Bellur writes, “Multitasking during class is negatively predictive of GPA and the relationship is significant (b = .12, p < .05)…” (Bellur et al. 67). Data also showed that 30.2% reported texting on a phone, and that was the most dominant activity performed in class and during homework (Bellur et al. 66-67).
The limitations for this study include the fact that task-relevant and task-irrelevant use of technology was not distinguished (Bellur et al. 67-68). Also, the lower grades surveyed did not take other factors that might influence this besides multitasking with cell phones in class (Bellur et al. 68). Though these results did show that multitasking with technology in class did report lower GPA’s compared to those who did not use technology in class (Bellur et al. 68). While there may be some benefits to multitasking, it is important for a student to focus in class and not miss important information (Bellur et al. 68). Using cell phones decreased attention rate, which led to a decrease in performance. Therefore, businesses should conduct a no phone policy at work (Bellur et al. 68).
CONCLUSIONS
In conclusion, multitasking has its negatives and needs to be monitored closely.

With the first claim, multitasking decreased task performance. 96% of the participants performed better on the single task compared to multitasking (Lin et al. 315). The second claim showed that the usage of cell phones increased chances of a fatal car crash. After examining the data, it showed that states with a cell phone ban while driving had a 26% lower fatality rate (Lim and Chi 208). The last claim portrayed how cell phones decreased focus on tasks. The results showed that multitasking with cell phones did lead to lower GPA’s (Bellur et al.

68).
An owner should consider three managerial recommendations after seeing this data. To address claim one, an owner should assign a single task to their employees set to that individual’s strength for highest efficiency. Claim two relates to businesses with company cars and in that, a no phone policy should be enacted. A business can even have an introductory class for its employees on the danger of it in order to encourage the no phone policy while driving. Claim three would lead to a no phone policy at work; the data showed that performance decreased from the distractions of a phone at hand (Bellur et al. 68). The article mentioned that attention was the main gateway for information processing (Bellur et al. 64). Therefore, it is very important for a company’s employees to give full attention.

Works Cited
Bellur, Saraswathi, Kristine L. Nowak, and Kyle S. Hull. “Make it Our Time: In Class Multitaskers Have Lower Academic Performance.” Computers in Human Behavior, vol. 53, 2015, pp. 63-70.
Lim, Siew Hoon, and Junwook Chi. “Cellphone Bans and Fatal Motor Vehicle Crash Rates in the United States.” Journal of Public Health Policy, vol. 34, no. 2, 2013, pp. 197-212.
Lin, Lin, Deborah Cockerham, Zhengsi Chang, and Gloria Natividad. “Task Speed and Accuracy Decrease When Multitasking.” Technology, Knowledge, and Learning, vol. 21, no. 3, 2016, pp. 307-323.
Van der Horst, Anna C., Ute-Christine Klehe, and Liesbeth van Leeuwen. “Doing it All At Once: Multitasking as a Predictor of Call Center Agents’ Performance and Performance-based Dismissal.” International Journal of Selection and Assessment, vol. 20, no. 4, 2012, pp. 434-443.