As a chronic multi-tasker who has definitely fed a baby while attending a meeting online, baking a potato in the microwave (that totally got cold) and assisted a sibling and her then-boyfriend with graduation speeches via DM all at once, I am well aware that you don't get anything done as well as you might while single-tasking--but those of us who've been in this situation (Oh, I also had a chemistry experiment on the kitchen table since I was finishing college at the time, too!) know that sometimes it really is unavoidable. The consequences of multi-tasking are being tallied up, though, and they may disturb you as much as they disturb me.
Most of us have heard that multi-tasking lowers productivity while just making you appear busier. (Seriously, again... anyone who has ever cared for a baby while doing literally anything else knows that it's sometimes completely unavoidable.) It can also lead to misunderstandings, inaccuracy, and missing details, but I just learned that multi-tasking can lower your IQ and impair cognitive ability. Add that to the lack of sleep that many people have and no wonder we're all struggling!
I don't know about you, but I need to know more about this. How much does it lower IQ? And for how long? How much does it impair your cognitive ability, and to what end? Does it lead to, say, danger on the road or while operating a forklift? This is just freaky--and freakier still, like the article says, that employers demand "multi-taskers."
What other freaky information have you read this week about the brain or the effects of human activity on it? Share what you find in the chat.