Effects of Multitasking on Productivity Psychology Essay (Essay Sample)

Effects of Multitasking on Productivity
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Effects of Multitasking on Productivity
Multitasking defines the ability to accomplish numerous activities or perform more than one task at a time. Conversely, productivity explains the generative capacity of humans and their abilities to realize maximal output from efforts. A typical example of multitasking in an educational setting is a lecturer who engages in many activities at a time in the office. While taking a call from an administrator, a text message from the wife may come in to ask where he placed a key in the house. In the process of texting the wife while still talking to the administrator, a student may walk in with term papers. The lecturer may have to use non-verbal communication in directing the student on where to place the papers as he proceeds with the other communications. The question as to whether such a lecturer will have been maximally productive has been discussed for long. As explained by Markovitz (2017), the human brain cannot process many tasks simultaneously; instead, it switches from one to another. When subjected to simultaneous tasks, it becomes less productive because of task switching, time-wastage, poor concentration, and increased risks of errors.
Multitasking reduces productivity because of task-switching. Every task's initiation and performance involve various communications between the central nervous system (CNS), the peripheral nervous system (PNS), and other organs and systems in the body. In the lecturer's sampled case, electrical impulses initiating brain activity on how to react to each task get generated from sensory organs like the eyes and ears. These impulses travel through the two nervous systems to the brain for interpretation. The brain then releases a set of instructions relevant for effecting a task. Each time a new task has to be done, the entire process has to be repeated. In some tasks, multiple stages are involved. As a result, the brain has to work progressively (Strobach et al., 2018). Intermittent interruptions brought about by attempting to multitask may significantly reduce efficiency. For example, the lecturer may have to halt listening to the administrator as they attend to the student. By the time they come back, they may have no clear picture of what the administrator wants.