Multitasking

Think about the last time you were multitasking. Are you proud of your versatility and efficiency?

I used to be so. This is even more so when I was attending a true tour-de-force outpatient clinic, in which I had to see twenty to thirty patients within a half day. Everyone is in a rush, and I am no different. After recent installation of dual monitor computer in my clinic, I could scan and call the second patient's name before I finished seeing the first patient. I've lost track of how many patients had entered my consultation room when it was still occupied by the previous patient.

"I've never been in your embarrassing situation, because I never multitask," my mentor shrugged, apropos of my dual monitor story.

I was thrown by this.

But it didn't take me long to figure out why I should not multitask.

An article published in Teaching and Teacher Education titled "The myths of the digital native and the multitasker" highlights that cognitive multitasking simply doesn't exist. What happens in reality is "task switching," indicative of a break in concentration. It strikes me that the human brain is single core; such architecture of cognitive system only allows for switching between different tasks. Switching between tasks, in turn, is not more efficient than carrying out one single task or a series of single tasks consecutively.

Psychological refractory period (bottleneck in switching tasks) is the key, interference the result, and shrinking productivity the ROI.