Toxic multitasking a natural extension of personal, professional hustle culture.
Overview
Chief Director of Center for BrainHealth Sandi Chapman, PhD, compares multitasking to trying to read two books at the same time: continuous switching causes people to lose their place, reducing efficiency and increasing cognitive load. Each switch requires mental energy, making the brain work harder while accomplishing less.Chapman identifies toxic multitasking as a natural extension of hustle culture, where productivity is often measured by quantity rather than quality, noting that chronic distraction can leave the brain overloaded, leading to emotional strain, reduced patience, and difficulty thinking clearly.BrainHealth Strategies
But the good news is that based on BrainHealth research, several practical approaches can strengthen focus and reduce cognitive overload:- Keep a scratch pad nearby to capture stray thoughts without interrupting work.
- Silence notifications and remove unnecessary distractions from the environment.
- Schedule regular brain breaks, including walks, stretching, or quiet reflection.
- Step away from screens during breaks, noting that a true brain break requires disengaging from digital input.
- Shift from multitasking to single-tasking whenever possible.
