# Mindful context switching: multitasking for humans

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## Metadata
- Author: [[Anne-Laure]]
- Full Title: Mindful context switching: multitasking for humans
- Category: #articles
- URL: https://nesslabs.com/mindful-context-switching

## Highlights
- The same way context switching comes with a cost in performance for computers, multitasking has its cost for humans too. Research shows that constantly switching context between different tasks has a terrible effect on attention. We’re basically less focused and less performant when trying to do several things at the same time.
- Psychiatrist Edward M. Hallowell even describes multitasking as a “mythical activity in which people believe they can perform two or more tasks simultaneously as effectively as one.”
- “You should try to stay on a single task as long as possible without decreasing your responsiveness below a minimum acceptable limit. Decide how responsive you need to be—and then, if you want to get things done, be no more responsive than that.”