A whole generation of web workers has been raised on the idea that the more activities you can do at one time, the more of a productivity superstar you are. But is the ability to juggle Facebooking a friend; scanning an email; texting on your cell phone and tweeting about your latest technology tip — all at the same time — really such a good idea?
Nass said the idea for the study came about because he would see students who seemed to be amazingly skillful at multitasking and wanted to learn what their secret was.
Nass and his colleagues began their research by locating a group of 100 students composed of both “high multitaskers” and “low multitaskers.” The high mutitaskers were those who routinely used four, five or more media at one time (texting, reading email, chatting on the phone etc.). The low multitaskers used, on average, no more than tw