Why Students Should Stop Multitasking During Study Sessions
While many people consider multitasking to boost productivity, it may surprise you to know it kills your productivity and morale. There are various studies that show that multitasking is bad, especially for students. Many students take advantage of the technology to carry out several tasks simultaneously. However, this can sometimes lead to distress, negatively affecting your mood and motivation. So, if you are a student, read more to learn why multitasking is bad for you while still studying.
Multitasking Inhibits Creativity
Devoting your time and energy to accomplishing too many tasks at once leaves you with no memory to concentrate on creative ideas and concepts. You may complete your assignments in an average scope and rate but never achieve greatness. In addition, it is easier to get anxious when multitasking. In this case, your brain starts to access more primitive structures to help you stay safe from danger.
Multitasking May Lead to Anxiety
Consistently dividing your attention to multiple activities can overwhelm you, leading to anxiety. Studies show that the effects of interrupted work result in notable symptoms, ranging from physical to psychological. Consequently, you may realize lowered productivity and morale if you are working.
On the other hand, if you are a student, anxiety resulting from multitasking can lower your academic performance. To avoid this, you may consider hiring online people to help with some of your academic tasks. Try this website for some reliable academic writers online.
Multitasking Can Lead to Mistakes
Lack of focus is a key characteristic of multitasking, which may lead to avoidable mistakes. When tackling multiple tasks simultaneously, you will automatically divide your mind across them. As a result, the mistakes will likely multiply. According to Stanford research, multitasking makes you poor at filtering irrelevant information, especially in academic writing. It means that you will have mental crossfires and frequent overlaps between tasks, meaning that you will be unable to rectify mistakes effectively. Therefore, since you cannot afford to make mistakes in your academic work, it would be best to avoid multitasking while studying.
Possible Brain Impairment
Some studies initially showed that multitasking caused temporary brain damage. However, further research reveals that juggling multiple tasks or electronic devices causes permanent brain impairment. For instance, performing multiple activities reduces brain density in the anterior cingulate cortex, the brain area responsible for empathy. It is also the region that controls emotions and cognitive functions.
Researchers are still determining whether multitasking causes permanent brain damage or simply arouses existing damage. However, whichever the case, it is evident that it has adverse effects on brain functions.
Multitasking Wastes Your Time
If you tried doing small chores while still working on a larger project, you would soon realize how much time you waste rather than save. You force your brain to reset and adjust to each activity you shift to. As a result, this shift distracts you, forcing you to refocus on the main project and leading you to spend more time than is logically necessary.
In addition, you may find it hard to maintain the flow of states. For instance, if you concentrate on a single project and tackle it step-by-step, it will surprise you how fast and effectively you accomplish it. On the other hand, multitasking kills this flow, meaning you must take time to reconnect steps every time you return to a project.
Multitasking Stops You From “Living”
When you have several uncompleted activities, you may never have the time to really live; you constantly think about the pending tasks. You only think of the best way to complete these tasks and still find time for yourself. While you may settle for multitasking to complete them at once, you may end up stuck in between. Nonetheless, if you consider finishing one task at a time, it may surprise you how fast you accomplish your work satisfactorily.
While many consider multitasking a special ability, it is a killer of creativity and motivation. You accomplish more tasks effectively by handling one rather than multiple tasks at a time. Therefore, it is advisable to delegate some of your tasks, if possible, rather than multitask.
