The Myth of Multitasking: Or, Why You're Probably Reading

A casual, slightly frazzled image of a desk with a laptop, a phone lighting up with notifications, and a half-finished cup of coffee.

Let’s be real for a second. How many tabs do you have open at the moment?

I’m currently writing this, but I also just heard my phone ding from across the room (probably a shipping notification for those dog treats I ordered), my email is open in the background, and a tiny part of my brain is wondering if I remembered to put the laundry in the dryer.

We wear our ability to “multitask” like a badge of honour. It feels productive, right? Juggling ten things at once makes us feel like a circus performer of productivity. But here’s the uncomfortable truth I had to finally admit to myself:

I’m not a circus performer. I’m just a person dropping a lot of balls.

Science has been telling us this for years, but we’re not very good at listening. Multitasking, especially with complex tasks, is a myth. What we’re actually doing is “task-switching.” Our brain isn’t working on two things at once; it’s rapidly toggling back and forth between them like a bad DJ crossfading between two totally different songs.

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And every time we switch, there’s a cost. It’s called a “switch cost” or, as I like to call it, the “Wait, what was I just doing?” tax.

This tax comes in a few forms:

Time: It takes your brain precious seconds (or even minutes) to re-orient itself to the new task. Those seconds add up to hours of lost time every week.
Quality: The work you do while distracted is almost always of lower quality. That email you wrote while also on a Zoom call? Full of typos. The report you compiled while intermittently checking Instagram? Probably missing a key insight.
Energy: All that switching is mentally exhausting. It’s why you can feel utterly drained after a day of “getting so much done,” without having a single significant accomplishment to show for it.

So, What’s the Alternative? Embracing the Art of “Single-Tasking”

I know, I know. “Just focus on one thing” sounds like advice from a zen master who has never had a Slack message in their life. It’s not about achieving some perfect state of nirvana. It’s about making small, intentional shifts.

Here’s what’s been working for me (on my good days):

The 25-Minute Miracle: The Pomodoro Technique. I set a timer for 25 minutes and work on one thing. No email, no phone, no nothing. When the timer goes off, I get a five-minute break to check all the notifications I want. It’s shockingly effective.
Phone, Be Gone: When I need to focus, my phone goes in another room. Not in my pocket. Not face-down on the desk. Another room. The friction of having to physically get up to check it is often enough to break the mindless scroll reflex.
Taming the Tab Beast: I use a browser extension that limits me to a certain number of tabs. It forces me to close what I’m not actively using. My browser doesn’t appear to be having a panic attack anymore, and neither do I.

This isn’t about perfection. It’s about progress. Some days, I still fall down a Wikipedia rabbit hole for 20 minutes. The point is to gently guide yourself back, without the guilt.

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Try it for just one hour tomorrow. Pick one important task. Hide the distractions. And just… be with it. You may be amazed at how much clearer your thinking becomes and how much faster you complete tasks.

And hey, if you’re reading this while also watching Netflix… I get it. No judgment. Maybe just hit pause for a second.

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Thank you for reading