If you think you're saving time by doing more than one thing at once, think again. Multitasking, that buzzword born in the 90s, actually slows you down.
A new study finds that it adds as much as 50 percent to the time needed to complete the tasks, says this Hartford Courant article that appeared in the Seattle Times.
"One of the surprises was the magnitude of time costs involved in task-switching," says study co-author David Meyer, a professor of mathematical psychology at the University of Michigan. And it's not just the extra time that's a problem. Multitasking also leads to poorer performance, says the article.
Another study from Carnegie Mellon University finds that less brain activity is devoted to a project when more than one thing is done at once. So, if you want to do something well, concentrate on that task alone, the article stresses.
If you insist on multitasking, this story from the Cincinnati Enquirer offers tips on juggling multiple projects.
