The Truth About Multitasking

It's not only about saving time.

Aug 23, 2023

Photo by National Library of Medicine on Unsplash

Researchers agree this is a widely accepted belief, but until a couple of decades ago, there weren’t many studies interrogating whether or not it is actually true.

I got inspired to dig into these recent studies after nearly all of the women in my dissertation study described multitasking as a major component of how they spent their time, yet most men in my study did not.

For this week’s post, I will take you through a few key findings from these studies, so you can find out whether women are better at multitasking than men- and why this matters.

Economists Thomas Buser and Noemi Peter published a notable study in 2012 titled, you guessed it, “Multitasking,” where they created an experiment to test participants’ performance while multitasking. Specifically, they tested the understudied assumption that women are better at multitasking than men.

They defined multitasking as “people switching between multiple contingent tasks” - in other words, starting one task, switching to another (as if from an interruption by a potentially more urgent task), then going back to the original task.

Buser and Peter (2012) found:

Multitasking lowered participants’ productivity compared to completing tasks in sequence (or uninterrupted).
Productivity lowered because of the mental energy it took to reacclimate to the original task’s rules, details, and previously completed steps.
Participants thought temporarily switching to another task would allow them to return to the original one with a “fresh eye” and improve productivity, but this was not the case.
The cognitive cost of switching tasks outweighed the benefit of viewing the task with a fresh eye.

So in this study, multitasking didn’t improve productivity, but were women better at it than men?

No. Women were just as negatively impacted by multitasking as men, and there was no evidence that they were more attracted to the possibility of multitasking.

You might think this is the end of the story, but it’s not.

Buser and Peter (2012) explained that their experiment focused on tasks similar to those in a workplace setting- not tasks associated with household labor. When I pivoted to studies about gender and multitasking in the home, I found there are even fewer than the ones studying gender and multitasking in the workplace.

And yet, we all buy into this gendered multitasking narrative, possibly even more in the home than the workplace!

I’ll never forget my early years of marriage, when my close friend and I complained that as women (not to mention as teachers), we were just more organized and could multitask better than our husbands, so of course, we should take over certain household tasks.

YIKES. Sounds like excuses (tinged with some false superiority) rather than proof.

Let’s look at some of the proof regarding multitasking and household labor.

Offer and Schneider (2011) studied 1) when multitasking occurs in the home and 2) how parents feel while multitasking.

They found that mothers spent up to 10 hours more on multitasking than men in the home, specifically related to time spent on housework and childcare.
As for feelings, multitasking led to “an increase in negative emotions, stress, psychological distress, and work-family conflict” for mothers but not fathers.

Well, of course not! Women are doing more multitasking, which we would expect may be mentally draining.

Also, doing more multitasking is different from enjoying, preferring, or being better at multitasking. Women might be doing more of it, but this doesn’t mean they are better at multitasking.

Guramatunhu-Mudiwa & Cherry (2023) point out that multitasking is a coping mechanism.

Multitasking is a coping mechanism for schedules that get overbooked and change suddenly in the workplace.

Multitasking is a coping mechanism for families- especially moms- who have little structural support (such as accessible childcare or paid parental leave - I’m looking at you, America) for raising children while working outside the home, too.

Multitasking is a coping mechanism for women raised in a patriarchal society that espouses the illusion of being able to do it all while expecting women still carry their gender role as the ultimate caregiver forward.

Title: “another day of being a barbie girl in a patriarcy world” followed by an image of actress, Margot Robbie, playing Barbie lying on the ground with the caption: This is the lowest I’ve ever been emotionally and physically. Meme created by IG user Jill_Krajewski

Okay, but Meg, you just said it yourself- we are trying to cope with limited resources in the best way possible! So, I NEED to multitask!

I hear you, and the research does, too. Some tasks actually do pair well together when it comes to multitasking and increasing productivity in the home. (Think of how eating a DQ Blizzard pairs well with catching up on the latest episode of Luann and Sonja: Welcome to Crappie Lake.)

Zaiceva-Razzolini (2022) explained, “multitasking can save time only if the activities combined are non-contradictory, relaxed, or routine tasks.” In other words, if you can autopilot with one of the tasks, adding another more complex task may save time. If you can fold laundry mindlessly while discussing your child’s homework assignment with them, this may be beneficial.

However, we need to recognize that either way you divide it, and no matter who participates, researchers agree that multitasking increases our risk of short-term memory problems, increases stress levels, and reduces concentration. These effects do not discriminate by gender- they are harmful for everyone!

Again, women- especially mothers- are more likely to suffer from these adverse effects because they multitask more often- and this is not because they are better at it.

So what can we do about this? Here are a few suggestions.

When you find yourself caught in the multitasking maelstrom, give yourself a moment to pause and consider what lies before you. Are there any tasks you can purposefully pair together instead of acting out of stress and rushing through them all in a panic?
Ask for support. Even the presence of a partner helped the mothers and fathers in the Offer and Schneider study feel better when they were engaged in multitasking. (I realize the presence of a partner is a privilege, not a guarantee.)
Protect your leisure time. (Wait, what? Why are we discussing leisure now, and ha-ha like I have time for that!) I didn’t mention from these studies that women’s leisure time tends to be multitasked with another responsibility, like childcare, more than it does for men; although you might have guessed it given that women are multitasking so much more often.
- Zaiceva-Razzolini (2022) pointed out that researchers explained leisure time is of a lower quality when it is “contaminated” by simultaneous activities (Shout out to my cycling friend who felt bad admitting that a spin class with her kids in the attached childcare room just isn’t as energizing as one when the kids are at home with dad. Of course it isn’t!)
- I’m not recommending you skip all leisure activities unless you have the perfect conditions, but it is worth noting that solo leisure time is better than watered-down leisure time. Solo leisure time is even more important for women who are used to doing more multitasking in the first place.

Share the truth about multitasking. Point out that just because women do more of it doesn’t mean they are better at it - or that it comes without a cost.

Feel free to share this post with someone who you think could use this information, too.

As always, I truly appreciate the time you’ve shared with me to read my work. I’d love to hear your thoughts on the style of this week’s post, which discussed research studies directly. Let me know if you’d like to read more or less of these types of posts! I hope, if nothing else, it leaves you feeling seen.