YOU ARE A MARVELOUS MULTITASKER. Now, before you thank me for the compliment, let me explain what I mean. While you're reading these words, you also are breathing, contracting muscles, transferring chemicals between millions of cells and doing a host of other activities - most of which you have no conscious control over. That's impressive! On the cognitive level, however, you're not so good at multitasking. Nobody is. In fact, research shows that you can't do it at all; your mind actually is switching between tasks. It's not paying attention to multiple tasks at once. Consciously multitasking also comes with a set of harmful effects. Research results reported in the Harvard Business Review, the Journal of Abnormal Psychology and the Psychological Bulletin show that "poor attention control" has been tied to depression, social anxiety, decreased IQ and a significant drop in productivity. Multitasking also can be downright dangerous (e.g., texting while driving).
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