It sounds like a superpower: answering emails while on a video call, writing messages on the side, quickly running a YouTube video, and somehow still thinking.

“I’m good at multitasking,” many people say, sometimes even with pride. As if it were a skill that qualifies you for higher tasks.

The truth? There is no such thing as real multitasking – only very fast switching back and forth. And that is anything but efficient.

Multitasking feels like productivity on speed

It makes you feel like you get more done than others. It sounds like career, like control, like a modern brain that keeps up with the times. But neuroscience says: exactly the opposite is the case.

The myth of parallel thinking

For a long time, researchers also thought that the human brain was capable of multitasking – at least a little. That you can speak and think, write and listen, drive and talk.

But then a team from Stanford University came along: Dr. Eyal Ophir, Clifford Nass and Anthony Wagner. They studied people who described themselves as skilled multitaskers – and tested their abilities: focus, memory, attention control.

The result was astounding – and sobering: the more people multitasked, the worse they performed on all cognitive tests.

They were slower, more volatile, and more prone to error. And the paradox:

those who thought they were particularly good were the most susceptible.

The brain – a one-way street

Neurologist Dr. Earl Miller from MIT does not compare the brain to a multicore processor, but to a narrow one-way street: “When we try to do two things at once, we are actually constantly switching back and forth – and that costs us time, energy and focus every time.”

The brain is not designed to process complex tasks at the same time. Sure, you can chew gum and walk. But having a conversation while writing emails? Impossible.

With each change, the brain has to reorient itself, reload the context. Not only does this cost time – according to the American Psychological Association, this switch can drive the loss of productivity up to 40%.

The fallacy feels good

And yet multitasking feels like a little drug.

Every message sent, every switch between tasks releases dopamine. The reward hormone. It is the same that is activated when scrolling, snacking or buying.

• We feel hardworking – even though we don’t finish anything.
• We feel fast – even though we take detours.
• We feel alert – even though we are becoming mentally more tired.

What remains: a brain that unlearns how to filter

Clifford Nass, co-author of the Stanford study, went one step further. He examined frequent multitaskers over the long term – and found that

people who constantly jump between tasks unlearn how to distinguish important from unimportant over time.

They become open to stimuli. Distractible. Always on – but never in depth. This is a state that does not correspond to the brain, but overburdens it.

The countermovement: monotaskingAnyone who has the courage to do a single thing at a time is almost considered exotic. Or old-fashioned. Or “not resilient”. Yet neurologically speaking, it is the smarter choice.

In 2019, the University of Sussex found in a meta-study that people who regularly focus on just one task experience less stress, work more accurately and feel more satisfied.They can remember things better. Make more considered decisions. And recover faster.

Multitasking is not a strength – but a productivity killer with good marketing

The idea of doing two or more things at once is a marketing success. It is used by companies to sell more products and services. But it is not true.