Distraction, an issue that prevents someone from giving full attention to something else, happens to everyone, every day whether it is realized or not. Multitasking, the handling of more than one task at the same time by a single person, also an everyday issue that most people do not even think about being an issue to their everyday life, but little do they know without this type distraction they could get forty percent more of their work done. Distraction is everywhere, and with distraction comes multitasking, this combination is something that should be avoided if possible.
Focusing on one task has been the biggest issue with the creation of the internet and smartphones. Dewatripont mentions in his paper, “focusing on the two-task case for …show more content…
Although, now researchers now have the data to back it up, proving that multitasking is in fact, a myth. Earl Miller, a Picower professor of neuroscience at MIT, stated that “switching from task to task, you think you're actually paying attention to everything around you at the same time. But you're actually not.” Therefore, what is done is shifting the focus from one thing to the next. Miller compares this to talking on the phone and writing and email, which is nearly impossible. “You cannot focus on one while doing the other. That's because of what's called interference between the two tasks,” Miller stated. “They both involve communicating via speech or the written word, and so there's a lot of conflict between the two of them.” In a lab at the University of Michigan, researchers used an MRI scanner to take photographs of the test subjects' brains as they attempt to multitask (Hamilton, 2009). During the test, Daniel Weissman, the neuroscientist in charge of the experiment, explained that a man lying inside the scanner would be performing different tasks, depending on the color of two numbers he sees on a screen. “On the other hand, if the digits are a different color — say green — then the subject decides which digit is actually printed in a larger font size,” Weissman stated. The tests could get very complex and tricky, especially when told to move …show more content…
Miller stated that the brain is “not wired to multitask well... when people think they're multitasking, they're actually just switching from one task to another very rapidly. And every time they do, there's a cognitive cost,” (Hamilton, 2009). Constant task-switching encourages bad brain habits. Dopamine, a reward hormone is released when completing a tiny task, like sending a text message or sending an email. Brains love dopamine, therefore it is encouraged to keep switching between small mini-tasks that gives an instant gratification. This gratification can cause any social media, emailing, or sending a simple text message as a neural addiction. (Kim, 2015) Multitasking makes it more difficult to organize thoughts and it reduces the efficiency and quality of work, it also been found to increase production of cortisol, which is known as the stress hormone.
According to Strayer's research, the people who think they are the best multitaskers are usually among the worst. (Loria, 2014). Brains just aren’t equipped for multitasking tasks that do require brainpower, for example, that’s why chewing gum and sending a text message is very simple. Although trying to accomplish two diverse tasks, each one requiring some level of consideration and attention, multitasking falls apart (Woolston, 2015). The brain just can’t take in and process two simultaneous,