You’re not as good at multitasking as you think
14/11/2025
Translation: Katherine Martin
I’ve always been told it’s better to do one thing at a time and do it well, whether in everyday life or at work. But other people are able to tackle multiple tasks at once – or so they think.
As soon as I do more than one thing at a time, I don’t give any of them 100 per cent. It’s simply not possible, neither mathematically nor mentally. Obviously I’m not talking about walking and breathing at the same time. These are automatisms that don’t really demand my attention (though perhaps they deserve more of it) (page in German). I’m meaning other, more complex tasks. For example, I can’t fold the laundry, check my e-mails and do a crossword puzzle at the same time. Vreni is much better at this than I am. Because Vreni – not her real name – can do it all!
What Vreni says
Vreni and I know each other through our children. I guess we’re friends. But not when she’s, yet again, talking my ear off about how great and effective she thinks multitasking is. She’s probably doing it on purpose now, because she knows exactly how much it drives me up the wall.
When it comes to multitasking, though, she’s very serious. In her world, by the way, it’s a purely female thing («You know, right?»). If I counter this with studies that question or refute the efficiency and benefits of multitasking, they’re only done by men anyway. I still give it a go every now and then – after all, you should never stop appealing to people’s common sense. Or something like that.
What the science says
Let’s clear up the biggest misunderstanding right away: when we think we’re doing several things at the same time (multitasking), we’re actually just changing very quickly between different tasks (task switching). Not only is this exhausting, it also increases the likelihood of mistakes. So it’s hardly surprising that task switching impairs memory performance, as a study by Michéle C. Muhmenthaler (that’s a woman, Vreni) and Beat Meier from the Institute of Psychology at the University of Bern shows.
«Multitasking is a scam.»
It sounds like something I’d say. But it’s actually a quote from a neurologist, as described in the following video from SRF’s Einstein infotainment show. In this clip, Kathrin Hönegger and Tobias Müller explain very clearly why more than just two things at the same time can overload our brains.
Everything doesn’t work at the same time. In fact the opposite is true. Some researchers even suggest that multitasking lowers IQ, wrote the German newspaper «Die Zeit» in an article from 2012 (page in German), citing various studies on the topic. Neuroscientists and occupational psychologists have been studying the phenomenon for years. Multitasking doesn’t make you more efficient, more productive, or help you get more done. Or, in other words:
Multitasking is a myth.
I could go on and on, and list studies that emphasise the negative effects of multitasking, but I don’t want to be like that (although I’m tempted to…). I have to admit there are also studies that suggest it can have positive aspects. For instance, multitasking can lead to increased performance – at least if you believe you’re multitasking. It’s about what’s known as the perception effect. A research group led by Shalena Srna (another woman, Vreni) has investigated this in a total of 32 studies (page in German).
As we all know, faith can move mountains. Can’t it?
«This doesn’t mean multitasking in itself improves performance. On the contrary, multitasking has a negative effect on performance.»
But you feel good about it, Vreni, so that’s something at least. Irony aside, as we’ve now learned, it’s perfectly possible to complete two tasks at the same time. At least one of them has to be routine or a learned automatism. We can also train our brain in a specific way. Ralph Caspers from the German science magazine «Quarks» explains how in a highly entertaining way:
What now?
By the way, the fact that women can multitask and men can’t is simply nonsense based on prejudice. RWTH Aachen University, for instance, found no significant difference between women and men in 2019.
When it comes to brain research, there’s also no evidence or proof of women being better at multitasking. There are simply no evolutionary reasons for such a difference according to neuropsychologist Lutz Jäncke from the University of Zurich (page in German):
«There’s no genetic, ultimate logic behind assuming that Homo sapiens women 150,000 years ago would have been fundamentally better pre-programmed for multitasking than men. That makes no sense at all.»
I don’t know what it’s been like for you reading this article, but I certainly learned a lot while writing and researching it. Vreni won’t care about any of this – after all, multitasking works for her. And what does science know anyway?
Header image: Lorenz Keller
I'm a full-blooded dad and husband, part-time nerd and chicken farmer, cat tamer and animal lover. I would like to know everything and yet I know nothing. I know even less, but I learn something new every day. What I am good at is dealing with words, spoken and written. And I get to prove that here.
Background information
Interesting facts about products, behind-the-scenes looks at manufacturers and deep-dives on interesting people.
Show allThese articles might also interest you
13 comments
later