03-007 · EVIDENCE B · LOW-RISK READING
Do one thing at a time — don’t reply to messages while in a meeting
一次只做一件事，不要边开会边回消息
No cost at all. It does take a bit of willpower to resist replying to messages during a meeting.
Every time you switch tasks, your reaction time slows down and errors become more likely. People who regularly keep multiple screens open at once don’t actually get better at multitasking; in fact, they perform worse on task-switching tests.
B
Move “Do one thing at a time — don’t reply to messages while in a meeting” to Future Me's calendar
The excuse
Future Me has a clearer calendar, more patience, and apparently the same responsibilities.
What feels good now
Today I keep a few minutes, a bit of persistence and avoid interrupting my default routine.
What the source says
The source summarizes the return this way: “Every time you switch tasks, your reaction time slows down and errors become more likely. People who regularly keep multiple screens open at once don’t actually get better at multitasking; in fact, they perform worse on task-switching tests.” Evidence grade B. The original states the population, caveats, and sources; this is not a personal forecast.
Open the original entry, check who the evidence applies to, then pick one small step that fits.
THE ENGLISH EDITION
Original recommendation and evidence
7. Do one thing at a time — don’t reply to messages while in a meeting
Cost: No cost at all. It does take a bit of willpower to resist replying to messages during a meeting.
In plain terms: Every time you switch tasks, your reaction time slows down and errors become more likely. People who regularly keep multiple screens open at once don’t actually get better at multitasking; in fact, they perform worse on task-switching tests.
Benefit: Switching between tasks clearly slows reaction time and raises the chance of mistakes. This conclusion comes from a review of multiple studies. One lab study involved university students. Those who frequently use several types of media at the same time are known as heavy media multitaskers. They’re more easily distracted by unrelated things and unrelated memories, and they also perform worse on task-switching tests.
Evidence grade: B
Sources: Monsell (2003). Task switching. Trends in Cognitive Sciences. <https://doi.org/10.1016/S1364-6613(03)00028-7>; Ophir, Nass & Wagner (2009). Cognitive control in media multitaskers. PNAS. <https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0903620106>
Notes: Exactly how much extra effort task-switching requires varies a lot depending on the task, so no single number can be given here. The Ophir study compares people at one single point in time, so it’s hard to tell whether multitasking makes attention worse, or whether people with poorer attention skills simply prefer to multitask.
Read the complete Chinese source and notes
7. 一次只做一件事，不要边开会边回消息
成本: 不花钱。开会时忍住不回消息，需要一点毅力。
说人话: 任务一切换，反应就更慢，也更容易出错。经常同时开好几个屏的人，并没有练出同时做几件事的本事，反而在任务切换测试上表现更差。
收益: 任务切换以后，反应明显更慢，也更容易出错。这部分来自多项研究的综述。另一项实验室研究的受试者是大学生。经常同时用好几种媒体的人（重度媒体多任务者）更容易被不相干的东西和不相干的记忆带跑。他们在任务切换测试上反而表现更差。
证据等级: B
来源: Monsell (2003). Task switching. Trends in Cognitive Sciences. <https://doi.org/10.1016/S1364-6613(03)00028-7>；Ophir, Nass & Wagner (2009). Cognitive control in media multitaskers. PNAS. <https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0903620106>
备注: 来回切换要多费多少，随干的活差别很大，这里不给统一数字。Ophir 那项是同一时间点的比较，分不清是「多任务让注意力变差」，还是「注意力差的人更爱多任务」。
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