Multitasking: Turns Out We’re ALL Bad At It

We're talking about some of the topics in Amy Wilson's new book HAPPY TO HELP. Get it in our Bookshop bookstore, or wherever you buy books!

Ask most people if women are "just better" at multitasking, and they'll probably agree. Didn't some study say that at some point? Aren't women from Venus and men from Mars? Aren't our brains completely different?

Here's what the research really says about multitasking. Turns out we may have been bamboozled into doing more work all this time WITHOUT being any better at it.

Amy and Margaret discuss:

• Why multitasking feels good sometimes
• Why women may be better at it only because they have more practice
• How attempting to multitask actually makes us less productive

Here are links to some of the resources mentioned in the episode:

• D. Ren, H. Zhou and X. Fu, "A Deeper Look at Gender Difference in Multitasking: Gender-Specific Mechanism of Cognitive Control," for Fifth International Conference on Natural Computation.
• @meglskalla on TikTok: "Testing the 'Men Can't Multitask' Theory on My Husband"
• "Mythbusters" Season 14 Episode 5: "Battle of the Sexes Round 2"
• Olivia Petter for The Independent: "Multitasking inhibits productivity, research claims"
• Leah Ruppanner for The Conversation: "Women aren’t better multitaskers than men – they’re just doing more work"
• Hirsch P, Koch I, Karbach J (2019) "Putting a stereotype to the test: The case of gender differences in multitasking costs in task-switching and dual-task situations."
• Stoet, G., O’Connor, D.B., Conner, M. et al. for BMC Psychology: "Are women better than men at multi-tasking?"
• Sir Ken Robinson's TEDTalk: "Do Schools Kill Creativity?"
• The Miss Perceived podcast with Leah Ruppanner

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What Fresh Hell is co-hosted by Margaret Ables and Amy Wilson.

mom friends, funny moms, parenting advice, parenting experts, parenting tips, mothers, families, parenting skills, parenting strategies, parenting styles, busy moms, self-help for moms, manage kid’s behavior, teenager, tween, child development, family activities, family fun, parent child relationship, decluttering, kid-friendly, invisible workload, default parent, parental stress, kids stress, brain development, mom brain

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