Multitasking and burnout
You really can't do several things at once - and you shouldn't even try
One of the most pernicious myths of the modern age is that the best way to increase your productivity is to do as many different things at once as possible. But multitasking is, when you look at the data, counterproductive.
When you try to do several things at the same time, you almost certainly do them to a lower standard, and they take longer. Not only that, but multitasking increases both your stress and your fatigue levels, and ultimately leads to the phenomenon of burnout.
The reason why this is so pernicious is twofold.
Superficially, multi-tasking is an attractive idea: it feels like we're being super-efficient, making the maximum use of our time. It’s seen as a core skill by many employers: they want people who can do everything all at once. And because we're making ourselves extra busy and we feel like we’re doing so well, we don't realize how inefficient we’ve actually become.1 In fact, multi-tasking can reduce your productivity by as much as 80%.2
The majority of us believe that we're really good at multitasking.3 We're not.4 Other than a very few highly trained individuals, such as fighter pilots, none of us is.5 Only 2.5% of people can do it effectively - 97.5% of us just can’t, even though we think we can.6
There's a simple reason for that: our brains just aren't capable of it. When we think we're multitasking, what we’re actually doing is switching as rapidly as possible between tasks. Any one bit of our brain can only think about one thing at a time, or else it gets confused: we literally cannot think about two things at once.
The problem is that context-switching takes effort. We have to stop thinking about one thing, store everything in ultra-short-term memory, switch focus to the other thing, quickly review everything about the new task and remind ourselves what we knew, rapidly update those retrieved memories with the new context, and only then we can start work on the second task. This means we're putting more effort into storing and retrieving memories then on doing the actual task at hand.7
And it's inefficient, because while we’re not fully focused on a task, we’re not aware of any new information that relates to it, so our understanding of that talk becomes increasingly outdated and inaccurate.
Some tasks can be combined
Some forms of multitasking do, however, work just fine. We can walk and chew gum. We can listen to a podcast or hold a conversation while we’re doing the dishes. That's because these tasks use different parts of our brains.
Walking doesn't even require the use of our brains most of the time: the physical aspect of putting one foot in front of the other without falling over is mostly handled in our spinal columns, while our visual cortex helps us to avoid obstacles, and our auditory cortex helps us to be aware of potential threats. If we're walking in a familiar area, that's usually handled completely unconsciously. Our ambulatory system is on auto-pilot, and our brains are just scanning in background mode for anything unexpected.
But if we're walking in a busy area or a place we don't know well, we need to be consciously aware of our surroundings in order to avoid obstacles. That means our brains need to focus on visual and auditory perception in order to walk safely: if we try staring at our phones, we’ll probably bump into someone or something.
Doing the dishes is a simple, repetitive, familiar physical task. Talking or listening involves the language processing centers. There's no problem processing words while your hands are busy with a chore that requires next to no conscious thought.
However, we're not capable of focusing on two conversations at once: our brains just can't keep track of multiple parallel streams of language based information.8 If we're checking our email or browsing the web during a meeting or a Zoom call, we're not listening to what's being said. If we're on our phones while watching TV, we're not paying attention to the story, and we're probably not absorbing what we're reading either. We’re half-listening at best, and we're going to miss things.9
In other words, while we can perform dissimilar tasks simultaneously, if we try to do two similar things at the same time, we will almost certainly do them both badly, and take longer over them - and expend more mental effort in the process. In other words, multitasking is tiring, frustrating, and stressful.
Breaking the multi-tasking cycle
To make things worse, we often try to get back on track with even more multitasking, in the mistaken belief that if we could only do more things at once, we'd finally manage to catch up or achieve our productivity goals.
But when it doesn't work, we get more tired, more frustrated and more stressed.10 To make things even worse, multi-tasking can affect our memory, our ability to make decisions, and our ability to comprehend a task.11 We're putting in more and more effort, and achieving less and less. Eventually we just can't cope anymore, and we hit burnout.12
Our brains are most effective when we are fully focused on one thing at a time. When we're fully committed to the job at hand, preferably with no interruptions, we can get into a flow state where we can work fast and efficiently, with minimal mental effort. But all it takes to destroy that flow is a single interruption, whether that's someone else interrupting us, or us deciding to switch focus to something else, even if just for a few moments.
Multitasking isn't a miraculous key to increased efficiency or productivity. It's a myth put about by those who want to seem superhuman. So slow down, do one thing at a time, and you'll get more done with less effort, you'll reduce your stress levels, and you’ll reduce your risk of burnout.
I'm not a doctor, dietitian, nutritionist, therapist, psychologist, psychiatrist, meditation trainer, yoga teacher, or anything else. My academic background is in anthropology, and I've taken some neuroscience and NLP courses, but otherwise I'm self-educated. Nothing in this blog constitutes professional advice.
“Multitasking can interfere with working memory, cause students to do worse in school, and could possibly even create potentially long-term memory problems.” Why Multitasking Does More Harm Than Good, Discover, 2021
Is Multi-Tasking Really Possible? American Society of Employers, 2024
“… we inflate our perceived ability to multitask: there is little correlation with our actual ability.” Multicosts of Multitasking, Cerebrum, 2019
"People can't multitask very well, and when people say they can, they're deluding themselves," said neuroscientist Earl Miller. And, he said, "The brain is very good at deluding itself." Think You're Multitasking? Think Again, NPR, 2008
“…research suggests that the persons who most frequently multi-task may be those who are the least cognitively equipped to effectively carry out multiple tasks simultaneously.” Who Multi-Tasks and Why? Multi-Tasking Ability, Perceived Multi-Tasking Ability, Impulsivity, and Sensation Seeking, PLOS One, 2013
Supertaskers: Profiles in extraordinary multitasking ability, Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 2010
“A switch cost is a loss of accuracy or speed that comes when you shift between tasks. Though some of the costs of multitasking are subtle, they are by no means trivial. Too much multitasking can interfere with both working memory and long-term memory.” Why multitasking does more harm than good, Stanford University, 2021
The Mechanisms Behind Why We Struggle With Multitasking, BrainFacts, 2019
“… people who frequently “media multitask” (like listening to music while checking email or scrolling through social media while watching a movie) are more distracted and less able to focus their attention even when they’re performing only one task.” Why Multitasking Doesn’t Work, Cleveland Clinic, 2019
“Constant multitasking may lead to cycles of anxiety and stress, which can affect productivity in the long run.” The Pros and Cons of Multitasking, Indeed, 2024
‘… individuals who multitask are more likely to make impulsive decisions and overlook important details.” Multitasking is Bad for Your Brain, Quiet Workplace, 2023
The Fallacy of Multitasking, Psychology Today, 2022