Debunking Multitasking: A Quest for Efficiency

Multitasking, a practice used by many people to complete multiple tasks at once, seems beneficial to the user, but recent research shows that this practice causes more distractions. Alexandra Samuel argues in her essay, “‘Plug in Better’: A Manifesto”, that by getting rid of all of the distractions caused by multitasking, the time spent on the computer can be used more efficiently. As businesses in today’s world are using computers to help employees be more efficient in the workplace, each worker should only have to handle one task at a time to maximize their efficiency. Richard Restak argues in his essay, “Attetion Deficit: The Brain Syndrome of Our Era,” that by not diverting a person’s attention to multiple activities at once, such person

Samuel corrects this outcome in her article by explaining, “Whether it’s an overflowing inbox, a backlog of unread articles or a Twitter feed that moves faster than we can read, most of us are suffering from an information overload.” By having multiple programs open at once, such as a web browser, word processor, and email application, people are overloading themselves with too much information, and are therefore less efficient. Richtel explains how multitasking has been scientifically proven to be less efficient by stating, “While many people say multitasking makes them more productive, research shows otherwise. Heavy multitaskers actually have more trouble focusing and shutting down irrelevant information, scientists say, and they cause more stress.” By only selecting one task at a time to complete, one can stop the information overload causing the loss of focus and the ability to let go of useless figures and programs. However, a loss of focus is not only the consequence of multitasking. A disorder, or as Sam Horn describes it, “. . . a distinctive type of brain organization,” called ADHD causes odd behaviors such as restlessness in children and impatience in adults (Restak 413-414). Restak describes ADHD’s involvement in the workplace by stating, “In order to be successful in today’s workplace you have to incorporate some elements of ADD/ADHD” (416). Multitasking has made the behaviors stated above normal in the workplace, but the symptoms from ADHD or ADD can be limited by reserving a person’s attention to one matter at a time. Though working on only one task at a time may seem less efficient at first, having to switch between programs could cause a loss of focus due to the many distractions such programs could bring