Buzz! Beep! Vrrrb! It’s hard to go 5 minutes without getting some type of notification. We’ve learned to react to each one, and the constant “noise” is actually keeping you from being your optimal self.

I will never forget...

...something @NeilStrauss, author of “The Game,” taught me at SteemFest in 2016: Do creative work in the morning and save reactive work (i.e. emails) for 4 hours later. After the brain has sorted out problems during a good night’s rest, the worst thing you can do is pick up your phone and start scrolling through social media feeds, responding to texts, and reacting to notifications. Instead, it’s better to exercise the creative muscles when those “reactive” stresses aren’t hindering you.

Most people, myself included, let technology hijack their brain power before even getting out of bed. It continues throughout the day until the last thing we see before sleep is the glow of a phone screen. Rinse, repeat.

Study after study shows that when we get interrupted or try to multitask, it costs us 23 minutes per distraction on average. That means any time you check your Facebook notifications or try to catch up on a few Slack messages, it adds 23 minutes to the current task. Ouch.

The Multitasking Myth

Let’s get one thing straight right off the bat—there’s no such thing as “multitasking.” Sure, you can work on five things at once, but you’re just dividing 100% of your attention between those tasks. 50% to the TV in the background, 30% to various iPhone and desktop notifications, 20% to writing your report, etc. You aren’t doing anything well; you’re just half-assing a lot of things at once.

What Causes the 23-Minute Drag?

The time cost is known as “context switching.” In addition to wasting time with the actual distraction, it also takes your brain time to assimilate again. That might mean re-reading the last few paragraphs of an article or whatever code you’d worked on for the last two hours, but more realistically, it’s like starting over from scratch. When notifications or other distractions emerge, they snap you out of whatever deep thinking you may have been in.

What Popups, Distractions, and Notifications REALLY Cost

Allowing distractions and notifications to steal your attention is worse than you might think. It’s not just about missing deadlines or tanking your efficiency.

Multitasking Lowers Cognitive Function & Your IQ

Yes, you read that right. Regularly doing multiple things at once is more than a productivity-sabotager. It actually makes you dumber—about as intelligent as an 8-year-old. Oh, but wait! Science goes on to say,

“It was long believed that cognitive impairment from multitasking was temporary, but new research suggests otherwise. Researchers at the University of Sussex in the UK compared the amount of time people spend on multiple devices (such as texting while watching TV) to MRI scans of their brains. They found that high multitaskers had less brain density in the anterior cingulate cortex, a region responsible for empathy as well as cognitive and emotional control.” (Source)

Gloria Mark, Professor in the Department of Informatics at the University of California, Irvine also argues that a person can’t accomplish deep thinking when they are constantly bouncing from task to task. It takes her a few laser-focused hours of working before the deep, creative thinking begins. Deep thought would never be possible with perpetual notification sounds, physical disruptions, or stray web usage.

Addictive Behavior

If you find yourself falling into bad multitasking habits, you’re not alone. Feeling the need to check your phone, social media, emails, etc. every few minutes is a widespread addiction. The instant gratification that comes from continually switching to different things gives a false impression of accomplishment. And each little notification—an Instagram like, a retweet, comments on your latest blog post—gives your brain a kick of dopamine, similar to the effects of cocaine. The more you give in, the more you crave it. As Andrew Sullivan shares, tech addiction will completely consume and hijack your mind (and life) if you let it.

Reduced Concentration, Emotional Intelligence, and Attention to Detail

The hyper-connected, multitasking “loop” produces other undesirable long-term consequences, too. Over time, the quality of your work decreases as your ability to concentrate deteriorates. Then, reduced focus brings a steady decline in emotional intelligence skills like social- and self-awareness. Research shows that both of these skills are a strong determinant of how successful you are at your job.

Let's Put an END To This!

In the next post, I'll be sharing:

• How to Create an Interruption-Free Environment
• Strategically Silencing Notifications (Code: Red, Yellow, and Green)
• Tips for Desktop/Mobile Alert Balance
• How to Find Your Most Productive Setting
• Making Time to Unplug

If you found this article valuable, remember to up-vote and follow me— @sharingeverybite —for more!