July 31, 2014 by Mike Bergin

Multitasking Makes Us Dumb (A Little)

Do you have time for an easy quiz? Just answer this one question: Do you do better work after a good night’s sleep or after missing a full night of sleep? Easy, right?

Believe it or not, multitasking has the same impact on our work as losing a night’s sleep, according to trials run at King’s College London:

In 80 clinical trials, Dr. Glenn Wilson, a psychiatrist at King’s College London University, monitored the IQ of workers throughout the day.
He found the IQ of those who tried to juggle messages and work fell by 10 points — the equivalent to missing a whole night’s sleep and more than double the 4-point fall seen after smoking marijuana.

Why give up the the mental processing power of 10 full IQ points if you don’t have to? Unless you are part of the supertasker elite, unplug from media and work on one important task at a time. That’s just smart!

multitasking productivity study skills

Previous articleCollege-Bound Buzz (July 2014)Next article Ivory Tower: The Movie

Mike Bergin

Tens of thousands of students a year prep for the SAT & ACT through programs Mike Bergin created or organized. After more than 25 years of intensive experience in the education industry, he's done it all as a teacher, tutor, director, curriculum developer, blogger, podcaster, and best-selling author. Mike founded Chariot Learning in 2009 to deliver on the promise of what truly transformative individualized education can and should be.