Numerous studies show that multitasking occurs daily but doesn’t increase productivity as one might think. Check out the following multitasking statistics to determine if human beings can simultaneously perform two equally demanding tasks, how many people multitask, and how multitasking affects productivity.
Multitasking Facts – The Highlights
- 81% of high school students multitask while doing homework.
- Only 2.5% of people can multitask effectively.
- Organizations are 27.5% less productive because of employee multitasking.
- 72% of employees feel pressure to multitask during the working day.
- 29% of remote meetings involve email multitasking.
- 15% of people say multitasking during meetings helps them boost their productivity.
- 87% of commuters multitask while driving.
- 47% of drivers classify themselves as a ‘multitasking driver’.
- 66% of students perform non-multimedia multitasking in the classroom.
- 73% of students perform multimedia multitasking activities in the classroom.
Statistics on Multitasking
- Only 2.5% of people can multitask effectively.
- Multitaskers lose 5%-15% of their cognitive efficiency while switching between tasks.
- Multitasking in the workspace leads to stress and fear.
66% of students perform non-multimedia multitasking in the classroom.
60% of those who multitask in the classroom are chatting, 10% are doodling, 1% of students play games on paper, and 7% perform different multitasking activities.
81% of high school students multitask while doing homework.
Time management is a source of stress for 55% of high school students. As a result, many of them multitask instead of focusing on their homework. The 15-year extensive multitasking research has discovered 36% of them are on social media, and 28% are watching TV, YouTube, Netflix, or other video platforms.
Negative Effects of Multitasking
- Multitasking during cognitive tasks can lower your IQ by 15 points.
- Heavy multitaskers have reduced memory.
- Multitasking can reduce productivity by 40%
- Multitasking with communication tools takes 40.1% of one’s productive time at work.
Multitasking Productivity Statistics
25% of knowledge workers using 16+ apps miss messages and actions.
26% of these workers say they are less efficient due to constant app switching. Furthermore, those who use 1-5 apps say they miss 8%, while workers who use 6-15 apps miss 15% of messages and actions.
Multitasking decreases individual performance by 15%.
Not only does multitasking prolong task delivery time, but it also significantly decreases the creativity of the person completing the task. The high price of multitasking also includes the correctness of the answers since research has shown that the number of correct answers deteriorated while multitasking under pressure.
Organizations are 27.5% less productive because of employee multitasking.
Numerous studies on multitasking productivity have confirmed individual multitaskers are less productive and more susceptible to distractions. One study involving 45 companies from various industries showed that the loss in productivity due to multitasking costs them more than $450 billion annually.
This seems counter-intuitive since interview statistics reveal that 36% of employers want a candidate with multitasking skills.
Multitasking at Work Statistics
72% of employees feel pressure to multitask during the working day.
The rise of remote work has made multitasking even more popular, with approximately half of the employees multitasking during remote meetings.
On average, productivity increases by 59.8% when organizational multitasking is reduced.
A six-month-long multitasking study revealed that productivity could increase by 150% if organizational multitasking is reduced. None of the organizations involved in the study had a productivity improvement lower than 13%.
29% of remote meetings involve email multitasking.
Moreover, 24.5% of remote sessions include file sharing, while 32% of people multitask while their video camera is off and the microphone is muted. Finally, facts about multitasking show that the longer and larger the remote meeting is, the more multitasking happens. This is alarming since two-thirds of employees say prolonged meetings hinder their productivity.
39% of people multitask during meetings to catch up on other work.
Two main reasons for such behaviour are anxiety relief and external distractions.
17% of people multitask during meetings they deem irrelevant.
That’s quite unfortunate for companies since workers who find meaning in their work are 1.4 times more engaged. Furthermore, more people multitask during recurring and scheduled remote meetings than ad hoc ones. It’s also important to note that Friday has a lower likelihood of multitasking compared to other weekdays.
15% of people say multitasking during meetings helps them boost their productivity.
However, 36% of the surveyed people say that remote meeting multitasking causes them to lose attention/engagement. What’s more, the negative effects of multitasking also include mental fatigue and disrespect to the other meeting participants.
52% of Gen Zers say they are more productive while talking to a colleague.
Multitasking and productivity data shows 55% of them prefer working in open offices. Also, 20% of Gen Zers spend half the day on a multi-party call, while the biggest distraction for 65% of employees is a colleague talking nearby.
Multitasking Driving Statistics
Distracted driving took 3,522 lives in 2021.
The number represents 8.2% of total driving fatalities in 2021. Unfortunately, the number increased from 3,154 in 2020. This goes to show that multitasking health risks go beyond stress and anxiety.
87% of commuters multitask while driving.
Moreover, 18% of multitasking while driving involves reading emails.
47% of drivers classify themselves as a ‘multitasking driver’.
Multitasking while driving statistics also reveal that 59% of drivers are distracted by their smartphones while driving. Food or eating is a major driving distraction for 37% of people, while pets stop 20% of surveyed people from solely focusing on the road.
Statistics on Media Multitasking
73% of students perform multimedia multitasking activities in the classroom.
The majority (57%) of students who multitask in classrooms are texting; 30% of them are on Facebook, 16% on Snapchat, and 13% on Twitter.
29% of Americans aged 8-18 spend 29% of their online time engaged in media multitasking.
The majority of this time is spent playing online games while instant messaging. A decade ago, this percentage was significantly lower, at 16%. This helps the younger generations to multitask more effectively at work when the time comes.
68% of people multitask while listening to music.
Also, 60% of people passively listen to podcasts while multitasking, while only 34% and 21% of people, respectively, are gaming or reading while performing other activities simultaneously.
76% of people respond to emails while watching TV.
As per statistics about multitasking, the second favourite multitasking activity is using social media, while 68% of respondents say they multitask by looking up information about what they’re watching on TV. In addition, 55% of people play games while watching TV, and 54% of surveyed people say they do online shopping while watching TV.
73% of US women multitask while listening to audiobooks.
Only 66.1% of men can say the same. In addition, women are more likely than men to multitask while reading e-books (57.7% vs. 53.5%).
Teens are media multitasking 40% of their time.
Besides detecting how much time they spend on media multitasking, the latest trends in multitasking have also revealed the participants’ positive and negative emotions increase when they start multitasking. Yet, one of the positive effects of multitasking is that these emotions subside over time.
Multitasking Statistics – The Summary
As the data suggests, the majority of people cannot multitask efficiently. Unfortunately, many people are unaware and still do it thinking it brings them more benefits than consequences. Although performing multiple tasks at once has an adverse effect on productivity, multitasking still remains one of the most widespread activities among people worldwide.