Earlier today I was having a phone conversation with one of my closest friends when suddenly she gasped.  That was followed by a period of silence.  When I asked, “What happened?” she replied, “You told me multitasking makes you stupid.”

It turns out that she was multitasking while we were talking and the distraction is what caused the gasp.

Roman philosopher Publilius Syrus said, “To do two things at once- is to do neither.” So true!  There are times that multitasking can work for you, (doing laundry while talking on the phone, for example) but not when it becomes a way of life. The truth of the matter is that multitasking has become a way of life.  Even our children are multitasking.  The fast pace and work environment almost demands that we do so.  We answer email while we talk or while in meetings, we take phone calls while we’re in meetings, and so on, thinking that we’re getting more done, but that isn’t necessarily true.  For instance, talking on the phone while driving can impair your driving more than having had two drinks.  Try texting behind the wheel and you are five times more likely to have an accident.

Research shows an even worse effect in the office.  One study revealed that when workers were interrupted by email, it took 15 minutes for them to get back on track.  That adds up quickly.  The average person gets interrupted once every eight minutes.  That’s almost eight interruptions every hour.  Let’s say that once every hour someone allows themselves to be interrupted by email and that it takes 5 minutes to reply to email and then the 15 minutes to get back on track.  That’s 20 minutes for every hour this happens.  If it happens every hour, it adds up to almost 14 hours every week. That’s a lot of time wasted due to multitasking. Do you multitask?  If so, how much time are you wasting each week?