“Diamonds Are Forever” echoes through graduate creative writing student Kerri Allen’s headphones as she types her paper. She begins singing the lyrics: “They are all I need to please me.” Switching between Pandora, Facebook, Tumblr, Google and her assignment, Allen glances at each for a few minutes before returning to her homework.
Allen’s multitasking makes her the stereotypical Gen Y-er: distracted, short attention span, doing too many things and none of them well. But is that really true, of her and all the other young multitaskers out there? Some experts say there is nothing wrong with multitasking and that it might actually be beneficial. Many believe that switching between tasks can lead to distraction, exhaustion, and mistakes. However, multitasking cures boredom from assignments, it helps you to learn with distractions such as music, and teaches users time management.
In 2012 researchers found that 80 percent of students multitask by using Facebook, email or instant messaging when doing homework, according to the Junco and Cotton’s findings in “The relationship between multitasking and academic performance.” Students said the reason they multitask is to make their work more enjoyable.
Similarly, many students use multitasking to prevent boredom while doing work. “I like to think of [switching between tabs on your laptop] as having built-in breaks during your homework,” Allen said.
Students also tend to listen to music while trying to stay on task. Although most research shows there is a negative correlation between multitasking a recent study performed by a psychologist hired by Spotify proves otherwise. Dr. Emma Gray found that students scored 12 percent higher on their math exams when they listened to classical music with 60-70 beats per minute while studying.
On top of that, Ohio State University studied the effects of multitasking and music in 2012. Researchers found that those who tend to multitask were more efficient at multisensory integration. In other words, the participants were able to perform better when the music was present than when absent. Since the multi-taskers were used to receiving information from multiple sources, it was easier for them to perform with the unexpected sounds.
Since students are so used to multitasking they tend to bring it into the classroom. Mayleen Cordero, a senior studying film, said she has seen several students during class multitasking by listening to lectures and watching ESPN. “I think that we are so used to multitasking that we tend to do it anywhere to make everyday tasks and subjects more interesting,” Cordero said.
However, “there is a definite cost to switching tasks such as moving between tabs on a browser,’’ says Stephen Blessing, a psychology professor at the University of Tampa. “Some of the effects are briefly losing track of what you were doing; deciding which task to perform first, and overexerting the brain.”
In the study at Ohio University, researchers also studied 19 college students. Three times a day the students submitted a log of how many activities they performed online and for how long. Students were then asked what motivated them to do each activity. The findings showed that even though performing several tasks reduced learning and thinking skills the student’s emotional needs were satisfied.
Zheng Wang, one of the researchers from Ohio State University, said, “They are not being more productive––they just feel more emotionally satisfied from their work.”
Allen, who tends to play classical music while doing homework, does not see it as distracting. “I use music to help me get through assignments if I feel myself dragging,” Allen said. “I think it helps me get a lot of what I’m doing done, not necessarily faster, but much more happily.”
It has also been proven that women are better at juggling tasks. At the University of Hertfordshire, the University of Glasgow, and the University of Leeds researchers joined together to perform a study in which women were pitted against men. In the first experiment, 120 men and 120 women were asked to perform one task at a time. The second part of the experiment involved them performing two tasks at the same time. Researchers found that women’s responses were only slowed by 61 percent as compared to men’s which slowed down by 77 percent, proving women are better than men at multitasking.
Allen’s playlist had finished, and she completed her assignment as well. Research has proven that multitasking is not the main deterrent to productivity. Daniel T. Willingham, a psychology professor at the University of Virginia said, “Younger people generally are better at multitasking than older people because working memory tends to peak in the early 20s,” according Education Weekly. Generation Y has mastered the art of multitasking– maybe everyone else just needs to catch up.