Multitasking Is Inefficient

The author, Alina Tugend, shares that psychologists, neuroscientists, and others are finding out that multitasking just does not work. When having a conversation over the phone while having a conversation over the internet using email is multitasking; but it’s causing stress and making people less focused. In the article, Earl Miller, a Professor of Neuroscience, clarifies how the human brain just cannot take multitasking at cognitive level. Therefore, people increase in stress and anxiety. Multitasking is very stressful and does not really work. This is because it slows people down, and causes them to make mistakes, and it could even be dangerous to participants and others.

“While multitasking may seem to be saving time, psychologists, neuroscientists and others, are finding that it can put us under a great deal of stress and actually make us less efficient” (Tugend 725).. College life is a known for multitasking, walk into any student lounge and you will see people of all ages, ethnic backgrounds, and religious beliefs, with laptops open, earbuds in place, and phone in hand. This is a phenomenon that is very prevalent in college life.

Stress happens when people get so worried that either, they are not going to get things done, or something dreadful is going to happen. Stress makes the heart rate go up, blood pressure will go up, and it can cause someone to forget about getting the task completed. Multitasking causes stress because people are thinking about more than one thing at once, and it gets confusing. When people are under a lot of stress they cannot think rationally. Stress causes the mind to focus on worrying about not getting the work done, not doing it correctly, or not being able to complete the class instead of focusing on the actual task. If they cannot finish one thing, eventually, they will give up on it and move on to the next. In some instances, not resuming the task. Rational thinking is imperative to getting work done correctly, and in a timely manner. I like being well organized but for me sometimes, that is easier said than done. I do not like being distracted when I am working on an important assignment. I am afraid the distraction will cause me to lose focus on what I am attempting. That fear, is the major cause of the stress that will ensue, if I start to doubt my ability to finish my assignment. “The Cost of interrupted Work: More Speed and Stress.” A study co-authored by Professor Gloria Mark, showed that when people were multitasking, they would work faster with fewer results. (Tugend 725) Most people, think multitasking is a good way to get things done, because they can get more accomplished. However, it is actually taking them longer to do each task. Wondering how many times she, (Tugend) had checked her e-mail. This is the only reference she makes towards her feelings about multitasking. In doing so, her readers have the opportunity to think about multitasking in their own lives. In her article, she gives her audience all the information they need to form their own opinion, without bias on her part. What effect it might have on their lives, and if there is some way they can actively try to change, or not to change, the way they use multitasking in their everyday life.

Multitasking is inefficient, because it does not allow finishing the task properly.

When it comes to housework, I will be doing one chore, but my mind is constantly thinking about everything else that I need to do. I start jumping from one chore to the next. But never actually finishing any of them. When I walk into another room, I see things that need to be done in there. So I start doing what needs done in there, if I walk into another room to put something away, it starts again. That is when the stress of multitasking starts to kick in. In our minds, we are thinking, get it done. That is our only objective in this fast paced world we live in. And never think about the consequences of what multitasking could be doing to our minds, as well as our