In continuation with the story “Facebook, Twitter effecting the way we socialize” yesterday, let me re-post a piece by “Jonha Revesencio”, a Social Media Strategist and Online Community Manager from Philippines. In this interesting post she writes about “How the Internet Could be Affecting Your Brain” in which she discusses why multi-tasking is not good for brain.
We all know the results of multi-tasking while driving, I mean using cell phone for talking or texting has been found as a major reason for road accident in many countries. Research by Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) has revealed that mobile device use while behind the steering wheel is responsible for a great number of accidents on US roads. “If you put a 20-year-old driver behind the wheel with a cell phone, their reaction times are the same as a 70-year-old driver who is not using a cell phone,” said University of Utah psychology professor David Strayer.
In India it is not the major cause, but us, it is in the list of causes of increasing number of accidents. The cause of 2011 train accident near Arakkonam was found as – the motorman was talking on his mobile immediately before the crash, and crashed into a passenger train. Following this the Southern Railway barred motormen from using mobile phones on duty.
Our brain, is just not meant for multi-tasking. Leigh Anne Jasheway, a stress management and humor expert and speaker, said in an email that the concept of multitasking itself is misleading – “Our brains cannot do more than one thing at a time. The word that is more accurate is ‘attention switching.’”
Here is Jonha Revesencio piece elaborating how multi-tasking, owing to digital stress effects the brain –
Why Multi-tasking is Bad: The Digital Stress and Your Brain
Our brain is a marvelous organ. It helps us to become creative and perform tasks. However, there are certain activities that we are doing online that could be damaging our causing it to have digital stress.
The following infographic from OnlineUniversities explore the possible causes of digital stress or how our online activities could affect our brain.
Limits of Multi-tasking and Key takeaways
Our human brain can only manage two tasks at once. Having a third task causes considerable drop in accuracy.
– People who read email change screens twice as often. They’re in a steady “high alert” state with more constant heart rates.
– Multitasking takes a toll on our brainds. Some neuroscientists believe that our brains weren’t designed to handle the amount of information they’re currently processing.
How to Avoid Stressing Your Brain
1. Focus on Tasks – Start by limiting the number of times you log on to your email and designating a specific time to check your social networking sites. Yes, that includes avoiding hitting the Refresh button every minute.
2. Complete Similar Tasks Together – Send messages in batches and read blog updates at once.
3. Take a break – The world won’t probably end tomorrow. Take a break every once in a while. Study shows that micro breaks actually help improve productivity.
Do you think that multitasking helps improve your productivity? Share with us through the comments below why you think it does, or does not.
(Source: (1) http://autismfamily.visibli.com/share/5VHjg3 (2) http://www.livescience.com/121-drivers-cell-phones-kill-thousands-snarl-traffic.html (3) http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-09-18/chennai/30171796_1_mobile-phones-train-accident-hand-held-phones (4) http://holdheide.wordpress.com/2012/01/26/how-multitasking-affects-mental-health/)
Tech Khabaren 
Thanks for sharing the infographic! especially the “What Can Help?” bit. I’ve been reading a lot of similar articles and studies. It is kind of distressing to realize that these few companies are changing the way we think… what more influence can they exact?