Okay, first let’s talk about the difference between multitasking and task switching, because neither one is really the worst all of the time, just pretty much most of the time in the way most of us do them. Multitasking is doing 2 things simultaneously like watching tv while folding the laundry (not really bad multitasking) or driving and texting (really bad multitasking). Task switching can be going from one task to another (normal, you can’t do only one thing forever) or rapidly switching back and forth between tasks or performing two or more tasks in rapid succession (inefficient and ineffective).
But we all do both, right? We sometimes sit in meetings with our computers open and take notes, answer emails, check Facebook, instant message the person across the room about how boring the meeting is. Then, as participants in the meeting, we have to ask people to repeat themselves, we miss important information, and we don’t contribute our best ideas. See what I’m getting at here?
Multitasking makes us sort of rude.
Beyond that, and the dangers of doing two tasks at once that could cause car crashes (please stop texting and driving you guys), rapid task switching may make us less productive, more stressed out, and crazy dopamine addicts.
And guess what’s stressing us out the most! According to one study, that’d be email. All of the email. In all of our email accounts, because who doesn’t have more than one these days? Researchers at the University of California, Irvine found that without email, people multitasked less, focused more and had lower heart rates indicating less stress.
Of course, emails were the variable in this particular study. As Larry Kim notes in this article, completing any small task - emailing, texting, tweeting - gives us an actual hormonal shot of dopamine and that feels good. So, we do some more small stuff, and we feel good again, so we do more until this loop of little rewards for, let’s face it, very little actual accomplishment becomes addictive. Then, like addiction, the need for the fix becomes stressful, releasing cortisol and wearing us out.
Without downtime, the mental and physical resources we use up all day long can’t be replenished. And while sleep is one form of downtime, a growing volume of research is showing that’s not enough.
Obviously, the majority of us can’t just quit emailing, social media-ing, and texting.
Beside it being the way many get work done, for those of us who are introverts, these activities can be the staff of life! But, our brains and bodies demand balance. While digital fasts have been proposed as a solution, they don’t acknowledge that some people take great pleasure in the social connection they feel with certain online activities.
That’s why I like digital rests, and prioritizing some non-digital time as a first step to quell the addiction instead. Put your phone away at night, like when you go to bed, instead of sleeping with it. Go for a run without a TV or music on. Mediate. Walk the dogs. It’s so easy! You’re probably already doing it!
If you are already taking digital rests, move on to the next level. Keep your phone somewhere else when you’re eating meals, bring a notebook to a meeting instead of your laptop, turn off your work email on your phone when you’re on vacation. Fold the laundry with music instead of TV. Sit on a porch and listen to the birds sing.
The benefit of mindfully distancing yourself from the stress, not-quite-deserved rewards, and rudeness causing distraction of your digital world is that it can help lead to mindfulness in other areas of your life. How you’re communicating with your spouse, the quality of the time you spend with your friends, your commitment to self-care.
And the better you become at those things, the more grounded you become in who you are and what moves, motivates you, and when you need to set boundaries. And that’s the foundation of powerful leadership.