Digital technology has led to an increase in multitasking, a seemingly harmless phenomenon that hides significant negative effects. What are these risks? How can we find the balance between activity and rest?
Imagine answering emails while jogging, editing a document during a video call, and exploring memes while pretending to listen to your grandmother on the phone. Digital multitasking has fueled the myth of the virtuoso of the most improbable situations, a sort of contemporary magician who makes us believe that we dominate the art of doing everything together.
Behind this apparent superpower, however, more and more research is emerging committed to unraveling the trick behind the magic: a confused brain, a shaky memory and declining productivity.
The connection between multitasking and digital
Especially thanks to the spread of digital technologies, multitasking has become a concept often praised as a symptom of efficiency. However, these new habits that lead us to obsessively check smartphones, computers and tablets, have triggered mechanisms that are reflected in our health.
Interaction with bright screens, incessant notifications, and multiple screens creates an environment in which our brains are constantly divided between different activities, affecting the ability to focus on a single task.
Overstimulated by this context at work and in our free time, we find ourselves following more speeches thinking that we can perfectly assimilate every concept. In the name of greater efficiency, we try to optimize time by carrying out several tasks in parallel, finding ourselves living endless days. What does all this mean on the mental level?
The mind in the balance
When we immerse ourselves in multiple activities, our brains activate different neural networks involved in attention and cognitive control. The frontoparietal control network, dorsal and ventral attention. However, research has shown that attempting to perform two or more tasks at the same time can create interference between these networks, leading to a slowdown in cognitive processes and an increase in errors.
Multitasking and memory
Neuroscientist Kevin Paul Madore of Stanford University has identified the “costs of switching tasks,” represented by the loss of precision and speed in switching between different tasks. This phenomenon not only affects our efficiency, but also on other levels.
Research conducted by Madore and colleagues indicates that those who devote themselves intensely to several activities at the same time tend to manifest moments of distraction and forgetfulness more. Although the direction of causality is still unclear, some studies suggest that multitasking, supported by the digital environment, is related to errors in working memory and long-term memory.
How to recover balance
Multitasking, especially in its digital form, proves to be an enemy of our cognitive efficiency and mental well-being. In an increasingly connected world, carving out spaces of time without digital stimuli can be the key to preserving knowledge in our minds and restoring a healthy balance between online and offline life.
A period of disconnection allows the brain to regain its ability to focus on a single task at a time, rest, and consolidate information, thereby improving operational and long-term memory. This is just one of the benefits allowed by the development of a new model of relationship with digital. In fact, there are many disorders directly related to hyperconnection including anxiety, sleep disorders and problems in personal relationships. In this regard, we recommend that you read our dedicated article.
Study, understand and act
As Digital Detox Design we deepen every aspect of the relationship between human beings and technology, trying to regain awareness in one’s psychophysical state and trying to understand how the world of design can help us in this regard.
If you are interested in examining and improving your relationship with the digital world, do not hesitate to contact us.