We’re all guilty of it. Maybe you leave your phone near you while you’re working on school work, and you get distracted every time the screen lights up with a new notification. Or maybe you find yourself scrolling on social media while holding a conversation with a friend. Whatever your method of choice, it’s all multitasking, and according to science, it’s actually pretty bad for you.
Teachers and Twitter
There are definitely some people out there who would vehemently disagree with that statement, claiming that they multitask all the time and that it makes them more effective. A different demographic would beg to differ.
John Warner wrote a short piece, “Rethinking My Cell Phone/Computer Policy”, after coming across a Twitter thread from a teacher who felt that banning electronic devices in the classroom was counterintuitive. In the digital age, he argued, taking away a student’s access to such a versatile tool would hinder their full potential in the classroom. He went as far as to compare it to banning pencils. This simple and concise tweet sparked a thread to form, in which other professors weighed in based on their own experiences in their classrooms. There wasn’t a general consensus, they were quite divided on the matter.
Warner disagreed with this particular professor’s stance, but it got him thinking. As an adult in the workplace, he is trusted to pay attention when attention needs to be given, such as during a meeting. To not afford that same trust and respect to college age students is a bit demeaning. On top of this, he conceded that having the distractions a device provides is actually beneficial for students, as “…they will learn to navigate these distractions and face the consequences of decreased learning and engagement if they fail to do so”. Despite these concessions, he still isn’t keen on allowing devices in his own classroom.
About that Science
Those people that claim they’re master multitaskers are wrong. Studies from multiple universities show that multitasking lowers your efficiency, as well as the results of whatever tasks you’re trying to complete simultaneously. Our brains, while impressive, have their limits. They can only focus on one thing at a time, and trying to split your attention between multiple tasks means that they’re going to suffer for it.
It doesn’t only affect your work, though. Multitasking can actually have an effect on your brain itself. Doing so has been found to lower one’s IQ, and may even be connected to physical changes to its structure. MRI brain scans on people who use multiple devices simultaneously showed reduced brain density in the anterior cingulate cortex. It is not yet known for sure if multitasking causes this damage, or if this damage is what causes the tendency to multitask, but either way, it doesn’t look good for multitaskers.
So while you may be tempted to check your notifications while writing an essay, it’s important to remind yourself that doing so is likely going to impact your paper, according to science. Your future self may just thank you for refraining.
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