Multitaskers – Lousy at Everything
Back on September 3rd, we covered a BBC article about Stanford University’s research on the myth of multitasking, and now Harvard Business Publishing has chimed in with their take on the same research.
“Despite starting the research on 100 college students with the hypothesis that multitaskers had some special abilities, the study found that multitaskers were actually quite ineffective at managing information, maintaining attention, and getting results. Compared to study participants who did things one task at a time, they were mediocre.”
There’s still a tendency to stand back and admire multitaskers for being able to do so many things at once. It’s like looking at a bunch of smokers out on the stoop, and catching yourself thinking “Oh, they’re SO cool“, then realizing, “What am I thinking? They are killing themselves and poisoning us!”
Multitaskers aren’t cool. They actually deserve a dope-slap. Especially when it’s you who are paying them.
