Today we’re going to be talking about multitasking. Yes, that thing that you were never very good at but they try to keep encouraging at work and school and well, basically anything that involves a performance aspect to it. So let’s dive in, shall we?
Multitasking: what are we talking about?
So for any who are unfamiliar with the idea of multitasking, all we mean is focusing on more than one thing at a time. To give you an example, a person who works in a store might have to stock shelves while they look out for customers who need helping. Or mothers, they’re often really good examples of multitasking. Watching the kids while trying to do chores, stuff like that.
And it’s often said that women are better at multitasking than men, so I guess that the whole mother analogy was more of a scientific observation than just the vestiges of a patriarchal society. (Or not, who knows.) We’re told that we can all improve upon this ability if we practice it. Get used to it. And that’s probably true, if you practice anything in the right way long enough, you can improve upon it. But today I’m asking the question: is it really even worth it?
Multitasking misconceptions
Now multitasking isn’t a new thing, and it’s been scientifically studied. But when it was studied we found that the brain really can’t focus on more than one thing at once. (Think of how rare it is to have two thoughts at the same time. Or try it, if you don’t believe me.) And so when we’re “multitasking”, what we’re really doing is just switching back and forth between different trains of thought consistently over a prolonged period of time.
This in and of itself isn’t necessarily an awful thing. Obviously there are scenarios where this is an important ability to possess. But that’s doesn’t mean that we should try to put as much of this into our lives as possible.
When we switch our focus back and forth between different things, each time our brains need a little bit of time to adjust. Not a ton, and not even an important amount of time really, if we’re only switching once or every once in a while. But if you’re trying to juggle 4 things at once, and constantly shifting your focus between them, you start losing more and more time. It gets to the point where you’re not going to be as productive as if you just sat down and put all your focus and effort into one thing at a time.
Not only that, but your mental clarity also starts to go down too. Especially if you make multitasking a habit. You start to not be able to focus as well in general, and certainly not on one thing at a time. I think this shortening of attention span is pretty obvious in our society today (not to hate on entertainment apps like Snapchat too much).
Training your brain
Whatever you do in life, you’re training yourself to do it as you go along. And the same goes with multitasking. It seems like on a very large scale, we’re training ourselves not to sit and focus on one thing at a time. Like we’ve decided it’s not a useful skill overall, and I don’t believe that for a second.
When it comes to some really important aspects in life (like who you want to be, where you want to go and your relationships with loved ones), your prolonged focus is an incredibly important thing. You want to be able to use it when desired, instead of being so scatter-brained that you can’t sit down for long enough to figure out what you want and need out of life.
There are definitely moments in life where multitasking is necessary, and I don’t believe we should cut it out completely. But in those quiet moments where you own your time, consider just trying to focus on one thing. Or even nothing at all. Let yourself be quiet for a bit.
Multitasking and distractions
It’s been shown that people who multitask frequently have a harder time ignoring distractions and filtering out important vs. unimportant information. And I think this is part of the key to why we take to smartphones like fish to water. We’re already prone to distractions, we use them to multitask and further distract, and it becomes a vicious cycle where we truly cannot put them down. They permeate into our lives and into moments that should be quiet and contemplative.
And when we spend so much time on distractions, we can’t really hear our inner voice talking to us. Now you could call it something spiritual or intuition or whatever. But I truly believe each of us has an inner center of the mind that has some pretty wise things to say if we’re willing to listen. It tells us the truth about our wants and needs, past all the noise of the outer world. If we’re constantly blaring this noise in our ears, pouring too much stimulus into our experience, we can’t hear it. It’s so loud we can’t hear ourselves think, as the saying goes.
But it’s not just smartphones or social media or the news outlets. It’s us, our thoughts, what we allow to influence our mental space. I think that chronic multitasking leads you to the conclusion that there is always more that you should be doing, could be doing, and due to that we don’t ever really stop and just do something. Or nothing at all.
Life beyond the noise
Those moments of silence and presence are such important things. It’s those sorts of moments that we’re able to figure out where we truly stand on something, how we feel, who we are and who we want to be. It’s those moments that build strong memories to reminisce on, and in my opinion, they’re the moments that make life worth living.
So ease up on the multitasking, when you can. Let yourself focus on the one thing in front of you instead of the infinite amount of things in and out of existence. And if you can manage, try and carve some time out for silence. Shut out the distractions and just be. Get comfortable with just feeling yourself and your environment and the places they intersect. This is how you find who you are, and eventually, how you give it to the world before you if that is your calling.
