According to neuroscientists , humans are created to do a single task; thinking that they are multitasking is nothing more than an illusion. Does it make sense to do two things at once? Does doing more than one thing at a time prevent productive work?  Does doing too many things at once harm the brain? What should be done to work carefully? Does spending too much attention strain perception resources?  What is Mindfulness? You will find the answers to these questions in our article.

Does multitasking prevent you from working efficiently?

For most people, in most situations, multitasking is impossible. When we think we are multitasking, we are not actually doing two things at once; we are just doing them one after the other very quickly.

Neuroscience is clear on this: Humans are built to do one task at a time. A recent study found that only 2.5% of people can multitask effectively. For the rest, multitasking is an illusion.

Trying to do more than one job at a time prevents us from doing those jobs successfully and safely.

Especially when it comes to tasks that can be dangerous, like texting while driving. Likewise, constantly going back and forth between multiple tasks prevents us from getting the most out of these tasks.

How true is the belief that multitasking leads to lack of attention and inefficiency?

There are many open windows on the computer at home or at work. News, videos, emails or social media accounts are open. People who spend hours in front of the computer think that they do not do much at the end of the day.

A 2014 study found that nearly 99 percent of adults use two vehicles at the same time every week, averaging about 2 hours a day. The best example of this is talking on the phone while the TV is on.

There is a thought in people’s minds that doing more than one thing at a time will save time. Although many people think this way, there are also those who cannot do more than one thing at a time. Some people do things in order because it causes a decrease in work efficiency. However, it has been observed that some people work more efficiently by doing more than one thing at a time.

So why are these results different?

Multitasking requires attention. If attention is diverted or not concentrated, moving from one job to another leaves a residue behind and when you want to go back to that job, you will come to the conclusion that you cannot do more than one job at a time. However, constantly moving from job to job increases the perception load. The perception source is not the same for every person.

As attention increases, perception resources begin to be strained. From here on, the brain increases memory and executive resources. Fatigue begins and performance begins to dip.

Research has shown that only 2 out of every 100 people have no decrease in performance while doing the same job. These people can concentrate on many tasks at the same time without any effort and without any decrease in their performance.

What are the negative effects of multitasking?

According to neuroscientists who study the functioning of the brain, our tendency to focus on many things at once prevents us from completing even the simplest tasks. Here are the characteristics that this situation negatively affects:

1. Mindfulness

Distraction is one of the problems that many people complain about.

Regulations that prohibit using your cell phone while driving are all based on scientific evidence. Doing double-tasking, for example, performing a verbal or auditory task while driving, reduces activity in the area of ​​the brain associated with attention, which can lead to poor performance while driving.

Many studies suggest that people who multitask in busy environments have developed a style of attentional control that allows them to process multiple sources of information in parallel while focusing on the primary task.

Another study comparing the performance of people multitasking in a busy environment with a quiet environment found that those in a busy environment performed worse when switching between tasks, perhaps because they had greater difficulty discarding unnecessary information.

2. Learning

As we try to do more than one thing at a time, our ability to focus weakens, making it harder for us to learn. Attention is essential for learning.

If we start multitasking constantly at a young age , we won’t have the opportunity to learn in depth .

An experimental study shows that multitasking with the help of technology, such as texting, listening to music or checking your email, negatively affects studying, doing homework, learning and grades.

3. Awareness (Mindfulness)

Mindful people do not just notice certain things; they pay attention consciously, in the moment, and without judgment. Mindfulness, the most advanced stage of mindfulness , allows decisions to be made in a stress-free and less reactive environment.

Many mindfulness-based therapies also help patients with depression, anxiety, chronic pain, substance abuse, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and other similar complaints.

Restraining ourselves from multitasking has so many positive benefits in every aspect of our lives, including our work, that it has become an important part of our careers.

For example, people think that the most important attributes of a surgeon are the precision of their hands and the skill with which they use the scalpel. While this is true, the success of a surgery depends on being able to focus on one patient and performing multiple tasks to achieve a single goal that may take hours to accomplish.

This does not mean that surgeons are naturally single-task oriented; they excel through hours of surgery and years of practice. Many surgeons say that the operating room is their favorite part of the hospital, because it is their refuge from the multitasking world, despite the stress and risk that come with their profession.

You don’t have to be a surgeon to free yourself from the world of multitasking and live a life of single-tasking. Whether it’s driving long distances, organizing an event, tending to the garden, or placing an order, we are always more productive when we focus on one thing at a time . Try it and you’ll see.

* Mindfulness : Paying attention to the present moment without judgment and openly, and accepting whatever is happening in this moment. It is a deep state of awareness that includes both awareness and consciousness, based on acceptance, non-judgment, and focus on the present moment. It is being conscious of consciousness. In this state, the individual is aware of where their attention is directed from moment to moment and what their mind is occupied with.

Even if doing two jobs at the same time or doing more than one job increases the perception load, we will never give up on this. Because as technology develops, time is not enough for anyone anymore. The lack of time will make us continue to do more than one job at the same time. This method does not mean working efficiently, but we do our best to make it efficient.