Are You Addicted to Distraction and Multitasking?
How to recognize what’s killing your own productivity and fulfillment- and what to do instead.
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How many tabs do you have open right now? Are you bored and bouncing between them all? Are you scrolling through your recommended stories while talking to your partner? Are you reading this piece while also listening to your favorite podcast?
If not, congrats! Feel free to move on. If so, this article is for you.
Recent research has demonstrated that excessive distraction and multitasking are not just related, but can truly be considered addictions. Multitasking isn’t confined to the workplace. It’s not just simultaneously printing documents, answering phones and scheduling appointments.
It also includes splitting our attention between formal work, domestic activities, and media distraction. Habitual distraction includes simple inattention to the present moment (lost in thought or daydreaming), and continues on a spectrum including active multitasking during our interactions with others.
Recognizing the habit
Sadly, even though we know they’re a problem, most of us still unintentionally engage in both. We juggle tasks at work and we don’t stop, even when we get home. It’s become our default modus operandi to the point where we don’t even notice it.
Meanwhile, distraction and multitasking are killing our relationships, productivity, and overall life satisfaction. We’re simultaneously obsessed with productivity, while also being constantly interrupted and distracted.
We write emails while barely paying attention during Zoom meetings. We listen to the news while eating dinner or scroll while giving our children a bath. Our own internal monologue causes us to half-listen as our partner or children recount their day. Meanwhile, we can barely follow our own train of thought and later forget the discussion of an upcoming work trip or important school event.
How do you feel at the end of your days? Do you generally feel satisfied and accomplished? Or do you feel distracted, anxious, and disconnected? If you’re realizing you have a problem, congrats! You’re normal. Multitasking…
