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Can You Really Multitask?

Can You Really Multitask?

Worthyest
April 08, 2025

Good morning.
It’s Tuesday, and the tabs are open. On your screen, and in your mind.

You might be jumping between messages, meetings, and mental checklists. But is anything actually getting done?

Today’s feature explores what’s really happening when you multitask, and why focus is becoming one of your most important skills.

Can You Really Multitask?

We pride ourselves on doing it all. Checking emails during meetings. Listening to a podcast while replying to messages. Scrolling while half-watching a show we said we wanted to see. Multitasking has become a badge of modern efficiency. A skill we claim, even if we’re rarely asked to prove it.

But here’s what cognitive science keeps confirming:
We can’t actually multitask. Not in the way we think we can.

When the brain switches between tasks, it isn’t doing both at once. It’s toggling. Rapidly. Inefficiently. Every switch comes with a cost. A tiny delay. A loss of depth. A drop in accuracy. What feels like productivity is often just fragmented attention stretched too thin to go deep.

The Science Behind the Switch

Neuroscientists call it "task switching," not multitasking. The prefrontal cortex, the part of your brain responsible for decision-making and focus, only has so much bandwidth. When you move from one task to another, it has to shift context, reset priorities, and recalibrate. That takes time and mental energy, even if you don’t feel it happening.

Over time, frequent switching can lead to:

Increased cognitive fatigue
Reduced memory retention
Lowered problem-solving accuracy
Less emotional presence

Which explains why you can spend hours feeling busy without actually moving anything meaningful forward.

So Why Does Multitasking Feel Productive?

Because it creates a sensation of urgency. It mimics momentum. When you’re bouncing between tasks, your brain gets frequent dopamine hits from checking things off, even if nothing is getting your full attention. It also feeds a cultural bias: the idea that more activity equals more value. We’re taught to see productivity as fast, visible, and measurable, not necessarily meaningful.

Focus Is the Real Frontier

In a world that rewards speed and reaction, focus is becoming one of the most valuable skills we have. Everyone claims to multitask. Not everyone knows how to focus. Sustained attention is how deep thinking happens. It’s how breakthroughs happen. It’s where strategy lives, where insight is formed, where nuance is noticed.

While multitasking divides your energy, focus helps you use it with intention.
It brings the full weight of your mental capacity to a single place. That’s where your best work and your clearest thinking tends to show up.

Rethinking What Smart Looks Like

Being sharp isn’t about how fast we can juggle. It’s about how long we can hold a thread, how well we can filter out noise, and how clearly we can think in a world designed to distract us.

We don’t need to get better at multitasking. We need to start recognizing the value of depth, attention, and clarity. In a distracted world, focus isn't just a skill. It is a new kind of smart.

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Can You Really Multitask?