601. Multitasking Doesn’t Work. So Why Do We Keep Trying?

Only a tiny number of “supertaskers” are capable of doing two things at once. The rest of us are just making ourselves miserable, and less productive. How can we put the — hang on a second, I've just got to get this.

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“A Questionable Evening: A strategic interrogation from two people who ask questions for a living,” featuring Stephen Dubner and PJ Vogt from Search Engine.

Thursday, Sept. 26th, at the Bell House in Brooklyn, NY.

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SOURCES:Olivia Grace • , senior product manager at Slack. Gloria Mark • , professor of computer science at the University of California, Irvine. David Strayer • , professor of cognition and neural science at the University of Utah.

RESOURCES: • " Immersion in Nature Enhances Neural Indices of Executive Attention • ," by Amy S. McDonnell and David L. Strayer ( Nature: Scientific Reports, • 2024). • " Contribution to the Study on the ‘Right to Disconnect’ From Work. Are France and Spain Examples for Other Countries and E.U. Law? • " by Loïc Lerouge and Francisco Trujillo Pons ( European Labour Law Journal, • 2022). • " Task Errors by Emergency Physicians Are Associated With Interruptions, Multitasking, Fatigue and Working Memory Capacity: A Prospective, Direct Observation Study • ," by Johanna I. Westbrook, Magdalena Z. Raban, Scott R. Walter, and Heather Douglas ( BMJ Quality & Safety, • 2018). • " Supertaskers: Profiles in Extraordinary Multitasking Ability • ," by Jason M. Watson and David L. Strayer ( Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, • 2010). • " The Effects of Video Game Playing on Attention, Memory, and Executive Control • ," by Walter R. Boot, Arthur F. Kramer, Daniel J. Simons, Monica Fabiani, and Gabriele Gratton ( Acta Psychologica, • 2008). • " 'Constant, Constant, Multi-Tasking Craziness': Managing Multiple Working Spheres • ," by Victor M. González and Gloria Mark ( Proceedings of the 2004 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI, • 2004).

EXTRAS: • " Why Is the U.S. So Good at Killing Pedestrians? • " by Freakonomics Radio • (2023). • " Why Did You Marry That Person? • " by Freakonomics Radio • (2022). • " How Much Should We Be Able to Customize Our World? • " by No Stupid Questions • (2021).