What is multitasking?

In modern society we're always in a rush. Rushing to be somewhere, rushing to complete something, rushing to get ready, rushing to reach a deadline; the list goes on.

In fact, we feel forced to rush, and all of this rushing can cause you to feel as though there isn't enough time in the day to do everything. Not to mention the fatigue that you will most surely feel at the end of the day.

The problem with having so many things to do (as most people do nowadays), is that you have to work right up until you go to bed, or are unable to finish everything that you wanted/needed to complete, not having any time to relax before bed. 

You look at someone else's life which seems to be as busy as yours, apart from the fact that they manage to finish everything quicker than you do, and have a hefty amount of spare time left over.

The question that always arises from this is; "how do they do it"?

This is something that many of us have experienced or is experiencing. Before I go on, if you do find it a struggle to complete all of your tasks before the days end, or want some guidance on how you could improve your productivity, then I would recommend you reading 10 Rules to improve time-management and 21 Ways to boost productivity.

After this long introduction you'll probably thinking that I'm going to suggest that multitasking is the solution...well...no I'm not.

I wanted to find out what multitasking is about and if it really does make a difference to peoples lives, or if it's actually a faulty concept.

What is Multitasking?

I've heard multitasking often referred as something women can only achieve, and no man is able to accomplish this. I'm not entirely sure where this statement originated from, but it is false. 

There are lots of people who are multitaskers, and I'm sure you are too, just without realising it. You don't have to be a women or some high flying businessman who uses confusing words, to be able to multitask.

So what exactly is multi-tasking? Human multitasking that is; is alerting to the performance or ability of an individual who is able to handle more than one task at the same time, while still giving enough attention to each that they are carried out. This does not mean however, that they are carried out to a high standard.

Many researchers take up the position that multitasking is merely a myth and if confronted with choices where the mind has to concentrate, the brain will only be able to focus on one thing at a time.

Another group of researchers agree with the first theory, that multitasking cannot be accomplished when decisions have to be made that require full attention. However, when performing smaller manual jobs, or jobs that are very familiar to a person, multitasking can be carried out to an adequate degree. 

When a person is multitasking, the brain isn't able to fully focus on both tasks, and is therefore going to take longer to complete both tasks, while a higher chance of error is certain.

A study on multitasking by Meyer and Kiaras, in which they monitored the interim between each exchange while multitasking, found that the brain made no progress at all. 

The conclusion was made that people who are multitaskers not only carry out a task to a lower level of quality, but also are slower in the performance. 


I take up the position of the second theory. If the brain has to concentrate on a task (to properly focus), then it can't concentrate on the other task(s) and will make mistakes. 

Regarding the position of multitasking while performing manual jobs or familiar jobs, I do think multitasking can be achieved quite easily. For example: If I haven't got a lot of time available for getting ready to be somewhere, I'll often brush my teeth while putting on shoes or getting things together. Another one is to eat breakfast or lunch while writing things down, simple tasks like these. 

Something I can do a bit more of also, is to concentrate on a conversation and talk myself, while concentrating on playing the piano. I think it's familiarity.