Doing less means doing moreStop and think about all the things you're doing right now. Do you have several browser windows open while talking on the phone? Are you sending instant messages while checking your email?
Maybe you're listening to the radio while working?
Maybe you're listening to the radio while working?
A fast-paced, pressured working environment often encourages, and technology facilitates, multitasking. We think we're saving time and increasing productivity by doing two or more things at once.
However, a group of Stanford researchers found the opposite to be true: multitasking impairs performance.
Frequent multitaskers don't filter out irrelevant information, retrieve information from short- or long-term memory into working memory, or switch from one task to another as well as those who prefer to complete one task at a time, their study suggests. This slows them down and hampers task performance.
"They're suckers for irrelevancy," said communication Professor Clifford Nass, one of the researchers. "Everything distracts them."
More research is necessary to see whether multitaskers impair their performance by taking on too much at one time or whether they have an innate inability to concentrate.
The researchers are sure, however, that the minds of multitaskers don't perform as well as they could.
These findings suggest that by doing less at one time, we may get more done.
