In our busy, always-on world, multitasking — performing several tasks or engaging in more than one activity concurrently — has become a default setting. At work and at play, our focus is increasingly given to more than one thing at a time: checking emails during a Zoom meeting, scrolling Instagram while watching television, switching browser tabs or responding to notifications while engaged in deep or focused work.
“Toxic multitasking is the illusion of productivity,” says Sandi Chapman, the chief director at the Center for BrainHealth and a professor of psychology at the University of Texas at Dallas. “Multitasking is often seen as a sign of high productivity. Unfortunately, your brain experiences it as a performance bottleneck. We think we’re getting two complex things done at once, but our brains simply aren’t wired for it.”
Not all forms of multitasking are unhealthy, but multitasking can, and often does, turn into problematic behavior that can become addictive, and that has a real effect on how our brain and nervous system function.
Toxic multitasking is the norm, but that doesn’t make it normal
“Today, more and more people are doing multiple things at the same time, double- and triple-booked on meetings,” says Ashish Kothari, founder and CEO of Happiness Squad, a consulting group focused on employee engagement. Although it may give the appearance and feeling of productivity, multitasking that is characterized by constant “context switching” is detrimental without breaks.
“When you switch between tasks, your brain doesn’t instantly reset,” Chapman says. “It burns through your mental energy. Your brain works harder and produces less.” She compares multitasking to trying to read two books at once. “You don’t absorb twice as much information from reading both at the same time. Instead, you simply keep losing your place in both.”
This way of working doesn’t stop at work. The urge to multitask continues outside of business hours, permeating our nonwork time. “We’re on phones all the time,” Kothari says. “We might be watching TV and doing something else. As a result our sleep is affected and, combined, creates a heavy toxic effect on our holistic well-being, physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually.”
Digital multitasking, such as looking at more than one entertainment device at a time (e.g., watching TV while scrolling on TikTok), has a particularly strong negative effect on our attention — and, ironically, on our ability to multitask. “These types of inputs actually reduce your ability to handle multiple inputs at once,” says neuroscientist Kay Linker.
Linker distinguishes between good multitasking and bad, pointing out that multitasking can be beneficial when used correctly. “Once a task becomes automatic, it is transferred to a different part of the brain, allowing for parallel processing,” she says. Examples of this include listening to a podcast or book while taking a walk or calling a friend while commuting to work, in contrast to what Linker calls “task switching, which drains your control and focus.”
The effects of toxic multitasking are real, and so are the drivers
There are consequences to all this multitasking, and the effects can be serious, affecting performance at work and creating a high degree of exhaustion, stress and burnout that leads to the inability to think clearly, i.e., brain fog. There are also emotional and interpersonal repercussions, including irritability, a reduced ability to connect with others, a shallow or insincere affect, and a loss in satisfaction at work and life.
Chapman says that toxic multitasking is a natural extension of American hustle culture. “There’s pressure on us, both professionally and personally, to prioritize output and quantity over quality,” she says. The pressures of expectation, driven by technology, have created a constant hunger for productivity, in which we feel the need to always be on and to give our attention away to social media and smartphones.
“We have become dopamine addicts,” says Kothari, who adds that the pace at which we’re expected to take in and respond to information is “putting us in a constant fight-flight-freeze mode, wanting us to keep taking action and feeling like we can’t stop.”
Because toxic multitasking has been so normalized, you may not even be aware of how much you’re engaging in it, but there are clear signs that it has become a problem. “Usually, the first symptom of toxic multitasking is emotional strain,” Chapman says. “If a quick question from a co-worker makes you want to snap, that’s often a sign your brain is overwhelmed from constant distractions or overload.”
There are other ways to determine whether multitasking is a problem, and Kothari recommends using these assessments to identify an attention problem:
Do you know how often you pick up your phone? Counting the number of times you pick up your phone during the day provides a data point to quantify a digital multitasking habit. “Most people pick their phone up over 150 times a day,” Kothari says. “It’s a clear indicator that we have lost our ability to focus.”
Are you addicted to dopamine? To determine whether the problem is a dopamine addiction, set a timer and sit quietly while doing nothing. Doing so will tell you how long you can go without being distracted.
Is your wearable telling you to cool it? “If you wear an Oura ring or another wearable,” Kothari says, “look at the amount of time you spent in a high-stress zone.”
How to break a toxic multitasking habit
It can be difficult to wrest back control of your time and attention in a world full of distractions, but here are some ways to exert power over technology and the pressure to appear productive:
Try meditation. Kothari calls meditation and other mindfulness practices “foundational” to increasing focus and our ability to stay in the moment.
Practice single-tasking. Linker recommends improving your attention span by engaging in a single task such as writing or reading for a sustained period, which she defines as an hour or more.
Design your environment for success. Silencing notifications, closing unnecessary browser windows, and keeping your phone out of sight and out of reach will help deepen your focus. “Keeping a scratch pad on your desk lets you quickly log random errands or stray thoughts on paper without interrupting your workflow,” Chapman says.
Use technology that cuts off a digital multitasking habit. To address the overuse of smartphones, Kothari recommends the Brick device. “It’s a tile that you can use to turn off all apps or even access to your phone completely.”
Recalibrate norms at the office to encourage deep work. In workplaces where multitasking makes it impossible to get things done well, or even at all, Kothari says, “set norms for focused, deep work time where all of your notifications are off and your colleagues commit to not disturbing you.”
Take regular brain breaks. Giving your brain a break by taking a short walk, going outside, stretching or simply sitting quietly for a few minutes will restore your mental energy and attention span — and prevent late-afternoon crashes. “A break is not switching from your laptop to your phone,” Chapman says. “A true brain break means stepping away from screens altogether.”
Engage in one form of entertainment at a time. “Limiting concurrent device usage and social media short-form videos will improve the triage assault this type of entertainment has on our ability to focus,” Linker says.
Make a deliberate choice. Chapman says that reclaiming our attention spans is entirely in our control but that it requires making the deliberate choice to stop multitasking and start single-tasking. “With this one simple change, many people notice an immediate improvement in their focus, mental energy and productivity,” she says.
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