Single Tasking Day

What the day is

Single Tasking Day is observed on February 18. The claim it rests on is that multitasking does not exist in the way people believe.

Origin and background

What feels like doing two things at once is, for anything requiring conscious attention, rapid alternation between them. Each switch carries a reconfiguration cost while the mind loads the rules of the new task, and those costs are small individually and substantial in aggregate. Laboratory work on task switching has measured them consistently for decades.

A subtler effect compounds it. When attention moves to a new task, part of it stays behind on the previous one, particularly if that task was unfinished. Researchers call this attention residue, and it means the first stretch of work after a switch is performed at reduced capacity even once you believe you have moved on. Interruptions therefore cost more than the length of the interruption.

The most striking finding concerns self-assessment. Studies comparing people who habitually consume several media streams at once against those who do not found that the heavy multitaskers performed worse on filtering irrelevant information and on switching between tasks, which is the opposite of what practice would predict. They also rate their own multitasking ability highly. The people most confident they are exceptions are, on average, the ones the effect is strongest in.

There are genuine exceptions, but they are narrow: a highly automatic task, such as walking, combines with a demanding one without much penalty. Two tasks both needing language or decisions do not.

The practical consequence is not heroic focus. It is removing the sources of switching, since most of it is not chosen.

How to take part

• Do one thing until it is finished or until a set time is up.
• Close everything not needed for it, including the second screen.
• Put the phone in another room rather than face down.
• Finish tasks rather than leaving them open, which reduces residue.
• Notice the confidence that you personally are the exception.