Why smart (and successful) people dont multitask

Why smart (and successful) people dont multitaskWhy smart (and successful) people dont multitaskYou may have heard that multitasking is bad for you, but new studies show that it kills your performance and may even damage your brain.Every time you multitask you arent just harming your performance in the moment you may very well be damaging an area of your brain thats critical to your future success at work.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moreResearch conducted at Stanford University found that multitasking is less productive than doing a single thing at a time. The researchers found that people who are regularly bombarded with several streams of electronic information cannot pay attention, recall information, or switch from one job to another as well as those who complete one task at a time.A special skill?But what if some people have a special gift for multitasking? The Stanford res earchers compared groups of people based on their tendency to multitask and their belief that it helps their performance.They found that heavy multitaskers- those who multitask a lot and feel that it boosts their performance- were actually worse at multitasking than those who like to do a single thing at a time.The frequent multitaskers performed worse because they had more trouble organizing their thoughts and filtering out irrelevant information, and they were slower at switching from one task to another.Ouch.Multitasking reduces your efficiency and performance because your brain can only focus on one thing at a time. When you try to do two things at once, your brain lacks the capacity to perform both tasks successfully.Multitasking lowers IQResearch also shows that, in addition to slowing you down, multitasking lowers your IQ. A study at the University of London found that participants who multitasked during cognitive tasks experienced IQ score declines that were similar to what theyd expect if they had smoked marijuana or stayed up all night. IQ drops of 15 points for multitasking men lowered their scores to the average range of an 8-year-old child.So the next time youre writing your boss an email during a meeting, remember that your cognitive capacity is being diminished to the point that you might as well let an 8-year-old write it for you.Brain damage from multitasking?It was long believed that cognitive impairment from multitasking was temporary, but new research suggests otherwise. Researchers at the University of Sussex in the UK compared the amount of time people spend on multiple devices (such as texting while watching TV) to MRI scans of their brains.They found that high multitaskers had less brain density in the anterior cingulate cortex, a region responsible for empathy as well as cognitive and emotional control.While more research is needed to determine if multitasking is physically damaging the brain (versus existing brain damage that predispo ses people to multitask), its clear that multitasking has negative effects.Neuroscientist Kep Kee Loh, the studys lead author, explained the implicationsI feel that it is important to create an awareness that the way we are interacting with the devices might be changing the way we think and ansicht changes might be occurring at the level of brain structure.The EQ connectionNothing turns people off quite like fiddling with your phone or tablet during a conversation. Multitasking in meetings and other social settings indicates low Self- and Social Awareness, two emotional intelligence (EQ) skills that are critical to success at work.TalentSmart has tested more than a million people and found that 90% of top performers have high EQs. If multitasking does indeed damage the anterior cingulate cortex (a key brain region for EQ) as current research suggests, doing so will lower your EQ while it alienates your coworkers.Bringing it all togetherIf youre prone to multitasking, this is not a h abit youll want to indulge - it clearly slows you down and decreases the quality of your work. Even if it doesnt cause brain damage, allowing yourself to multitask will fuel any existing difficulties you have with concentration, organization, and attention to detail.This article originally appeared onLinkedIn.You might also enjoyNew neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happyStrangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds10 lessons from Benjamin Franklins daily schedule that will double your productivityThe worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs10 habits of mentally strong people