The myth of multitasking—and its impact on financial institutions

We are a society of multitaskers armed with smartphone technology. We pay bills from our phones on our lunch break, text while doing just about everything, and respond to emails in the middle of meetings. Digital technology has given rise to a “there’s an app for that” mentality that makes multi-tasking ubiquitous across nearly every aspect of our daily lives.

But is all this phone-checking and multitasking really achieving the presumed goal of increasing our productivity? Turns out—probably not.

Numerous recent research studies indicate that our constant use of smartphones, apps, and other digital technology may negatively impact our cognitive abilities, particularly when it comes to our attention spans.

According to PsychologyToday, “A recent brain imaging study showed that heavy multitaskers have less gray matter in the area of the brain that controls executive function than people who use digital media less frequently.”

 

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