Hi all, welcome to my blog.
I remember when I would go to job interviews, one of the biggest skill set was multitasking. At the time, I thought it was an important trait to have as an employee, because this could guarantee your employer that you would get the work done rapidly. No wonder why everyone has ADHD! I would take so much pride in a multitasker, but with time, I realized that multitasking was as bad as smoking. It doesn’t affect your lungs, but your brain! Let me start by saying that no, I’m not a doctor, however I’ve noticed negative impacts of multitasking in people around me and myself!
Have you ever had a conversation with someone and you feel like the person is not paying attention to what you are saying, to the point that you need to repeat yourself, over and over again. At the end of that conversation, you’re exhausted because you repeated yourself so many times.
In our fast-paced world, multitasking is often perceived as a time-saving technique. The evidence suggests that multitasking can negatively affect your brain and cognitive performance. Multitasking can negatively impact your brain for several reasons:
- Reduced productivity: Multitasking requires your brain to constantly switch between tasks. It can result in decreased overall productivity due to switching costs, which psychologists call “switching costs.” Every time you switch tasks, your brain must reorient itself, which consumes mental effort.
- Reduced focus and attention: Multitasking may cause split attention, which prevents you from giving each activity your complete attention. This may cause you to lose concentration and produce work that is of inferior quality on each activity you are attempting to finish.
- Memory and learning impairment: Multitasking might impair your capacity to remember information and learn things well. Your brain might not be as effective at encoding information into long-term memory when you’re not totally immersed in an activity as it would be if you were.
- Increased stress: Stress levels might rise when people are constantly switching between tasks and juggling different demands. Chronic stress can result from this, which can harm both your general health and cognitive ability.
- Reduced creativity: Deep thinking and concentrated concentration are frequently the conditions for creativity to flourish. In these situations, multitasking might interfere and make it more difficult to come up with creative answers or ideas.
- Reduced efficiency and accuracy: When you divide your attention across several things, you’re more likely to make mistakes and finish each activity more slowly than if you completed each task individually.
- Impaired decision-making: Decision-making is hampered by multitasking because you might not completely take into account all the pertinent facts when your attention is split.
- Increased cognitive fatigue: Repeatedly doing many tasks at once can exhaust your brain, resulting in mental tiredness and a decline in overall cognitive function. Your emotions and general well-being may be affected by this.
- Reduced empathy and social interactions: Multitasking in social situations, such looking at your phone while chatting to someone, might make you seem uninterested and harm the quality of your connections.
- Negative long-term effects: Prolonged and chronic multitasking may have more serious long-term repercussions on brain health, perhaps accelerating cognitive decline as you age.
Instead of multitasking, make sure to be present and focus on one task at the time. Consider prioritizing critical activities, concentrating on one activity at a time, and setting up a distraction-free workspace in order to maximize your brain’s capacity and well-being. Long-term, this may result in increased productivity, enhanced cognitive function, and less stress. Your brain will thank you later!
Here’s a good ressource from:
Why Everyone has ADHD and How to Improve Focus – Dr. Josh Axe
The Truth About ADHD. Dr Daniel Amen
Books I recommend:
The End of Mental Illness – Dr Daniel Amen
US: https://amzn.to/48RTP7z
CA: https://amzn.to/3Pl3pZO
Change Your Brain, Change Your Life: The Breakthrough Program for Conquering Anxiety, Depression, Obsessiveness, Lack of Focus, Anger, and Memory Problems – Dr Daniel Amen
US: https://amzn.to/4ae4SZI
CA: https://amzn.to/3VfPNmk
Take care of your brain
Love,
Génika Jo
xoxo
