What are the Effects of Multitasking in University?

A quick revision for tomorrow’s class, an online quiz, and an assignment may all be done while binge-watching your favourite show. What’s wrong with it, right? You’ve been able to multitask very effectively since high school. Or at least, it looks like you are. What’s the effects of multitasking during university studies?

Completing college assignments and listening attentively to lengthy lectures can be complex tasks. It’s time to make homework and lectures a little more comfortable. There are times when a simple phone call, social media check-in, etc., are all that is needed to get you through the day.

Although juggling these duties may appear to be relatively harmless, you may realise otherwise after reading this article. In this article, you’ll find out what multitasking is, how it works, and how you may start working smarter rather than harder.

Basics First: What’s Multitasking?

Even though the phrase “multitasking” is bandied around a lot, you may not know what it actually means. The term “multitasking” refers to performing multiple tasks at once.

When some people think they are good at multitasking, such as cooking and reading, or typing and conversing, they feel they are proficient in this capacity. As a matter of fact, a few chores allow you to “multitask.” Vacuuming a floor, for example, is an example of a chore that requires little mental effort.

Because the human brain cannot handle numerous tasks at once, the word “multitasking” is a myth. A more appropriate definition of the human brain’s functioning is “task-switching” because your brain only focuses on one task at a time and not two or more.

What are the Effects of Multitasking?

Many things can happen when you multitask, but this post will only talk about a few. However, the general view is that multitasking has more bad than good effects.

Multitasking leads to lower grades.

In class, students who multitasked a lot were more likely to have had lower grades than their peers who did it less often.

A study by the University of Michigan States about how we learn shows that students who switch between tasks while they’re in class and while they’re studying, no matter how good they are at school, have lower academic performance.

It’s not going to help you get better grades if you try to do many things at once. It doesn’t matter if you’re doing two or more things simultaneously in class or while doing homework. Thus, one of the major effects of multitasking is it will hurt your chances of getting good grades.

Multitasking makes you less productive.

Complex tasks take longer to do, which means they take longer for people to do them. You might spend more time eating with a friend than eating alone because you’re not likely to talk and eat when eating alone. But if you were to study for your biology class while in your English class, it might take you longer.

It’s better to multitask than to cut down on your homework time because it can almost double the amount of time you spend doing it all. The time you spend on your homework could go up if you text, check email, talk, or even eat.

Multitasking makes you more stressed out.

As time goes on, you’ll have less time for sleeping, socialising, and exercising, which are good ways to deal with stress. Getting little to no sleep, not getting enough exercise, and not having a lot of friends are all linked to stress.

There is a good chance that when you’re so busy that you have to multitask, it means you need to say no to more tasks. You can only handle so many things at once, so pick wisely.

With the rise in mental health problems among college students, you need to lower, not raise, your chances of experiencing stress. To reduce your stress, don’t do many things at once.

How to stop multitasking?

One of the effects of multitasking is it can be a bit addictive because it makes us feel like we’re getting more done and feel like we’re getting more done. So how can you stop this bad habit?

Use paper notes instead.

Suppose you’re a teacher or a student who wants to use a laptop or tablet in the classroom. In that case, you might be surprised to learn that many people don’t have the self-control and discipline to stay on task. To avoid getting distracted by other tasks, you should turn off desktop notifications and text messages that show up on your screen.

Instead of being more disciplined and ignoring these notifications, think about taking notes on paper. Many people find that writing with pen or pencil and paper helps them stay focused in class and on their homework.

Taking more notes can be good. But laptop note-takers tend to copy lectures verbatim instead of processing the information and putting it in their own words, which is terrible for learning.

Before you decide, try taking notes with a pen and paper to see if you like it. Find out what works for you. We don’t know for sure what we’ll find.

Keep electronic devices away from your view.

When you write your notes down, you don’t have to deal with the distractions of your phone or computer. Smartwatches, tablets, phones, laptops, and so on are often the most significant things that keep you from getting things done. Although these devices are just tools and not evil, they give people many chances to get distracted.

Think about not using your cell phone or other electronic devices while taking a class or working on your homework. Remove them from your view even more. People are more likely to check their phones if they have them on their desks. As long as you have your smartwatch on your wrist, you’re more likely to look at a message.

Keep your devices in a place where you won’t be able to see the screen light up or hear them vibrate when you get a message. If you carry a backpack to class, put your phone in a zipped, inside pocket. Also, close your laptop when you study in the library. You don’t want to reach for it (if possible).

Keep in mind that this tip may not be a long-term solution. Keeping electronic devices out of sight during busy times of the school year, like finals week, is likely to help you get through these times.

Break down tasks into small, simple steps

If you often feel overwhelmed in university, you may not know how to manage several projects in your classes. To avoid feeling despair, try to break your project into small steps.

Some students had to give a 6-8-minute speech about something they learned in class. This task may seem simple to you, but it was a huge deal for students. Because they needed to be successful, this project had three checkpoints:

• An overview and coaching session on the informative outline.
• A mini-speech that only had parted.
• The entire speech.

Even though this speech was broken into three parts, many students would still be overwhelmed. It was a mistake that many students made when they didn’t work ahead. Many of these students would wait until the day before to start working on their outline review or researching. A C-level outline was sometimes possible, but they often sent an urgent email asking to change the subject.

There must be at least three or more days worth of work ahead of time to complete this assignment. If a student spent a minimum of 30 minutes every night, chances of writing an average to good outline increases. Thus, it’s more likely to find significant problems or essential questions when a student have enough time to fix them.

This article may sound like it’s against technology, but in reality, it’s against multitasking. While technology usually makes it easier for you to switch tasks, you are the one in control. Refuse to split your attention and work hard to finish one thing at a time well!

There you go, these are the effects of multitasking and steps you can take to deal with it. For most people, you only enter university once in your lifetime. So make the best of it by not wasting your effort and energy. But rather be productive to make more time for fun and relaxtation!

Want more study tips to boost your university life? Check this page out!