Picture this: you’re “studying” with your lecture slides open, a YouTube video playing in the background, your phone lighting up every few minutes, and at least ten tabs open on your laptop.
It feels productive, you’re doing a lot at once, right? In university, multitasking often feels like a survival skill. Between assignments, part-time jobs, and trying to have some kind of social life, it can seem like the only way to keep up is to do everything at once.
But cognitive science tells a different story; what we call multitasking isn’t actually multitasking at all. Instead of doing multiple things at once, our brains are rapidly switching between tasks, and that constant switching may be quietly hurting your ability to learn, focus, and perform well academically.
The Myth of Multitasking
Despite how it feels, the human brain isn’t built to truly multitask when it comes to complex activities like studying, reading, or writing. According to research in cognitive psychology, what we think of as multitasking is actually task switching, moving your attention back and forth between different activities. Each time you switch from your notes to your phone, your brain has to reorient itself.
This creates what researchers call “switching costs,” meaning you lose time and mental energy every time your focus shifts. Even if each switch only takes a few seconds, those seconds add up.
More importantly, the quality of your attention drops. That’s why you might read the same paragraph three times or forget what your professor just said right after checking a notification.
This happens because attention is a limited resource. Your brain can’t fully process two demanding tasks at the same time, so it prioritizes one, and then the other, in rapid succession.
To us, this feels like a seamless process, but it actually places a cognitive load on your working memory, the system responsible for holding and manipulating information in the moment. The more you switch, the more that system gets overloaded.
In practical terms, this is why multitasking while studying often feels frustrating. You might find yourself rereading the same paragraph multiple times, losing your place in your notes, or forgetting what you were doing after replying to a message. These small disruptions interrupt your train of thought, making it harder to build a clear understanding of the material.
Research also shows that multitasking can increase mistakes. When your attention is divided, you’re more likely to miss details, misunderstand concepts, or make simple errors that you wouldn’t normally make if you were fully focused. Over time, this can mean not only taking longer to complete assignments, but also producing lower-quality work.
So while multitasking can feel like you’re getting more done, it’s often doing the opposite by stretching your attention thin and making each task less effective.
Multitasking and Memory Formation
One of the biggest problems with multitasking is how it affects memory. In order for information to move into long-term memory, it first has to be properly encoded and that requires focused attention. When your attention is split, your brain processes information more superficially.
Research by Clifford Nass and colleagues at Stanford University found that people who frequently multitask perform worse on tasks involving attention and memory compared to those who focus on one thing at a time. This shows up in everyday student life more than we realize.
Watching lecture recordings while scrolling through social media or texting while reading may feel efficient, but it often leads to weaker understanding and poorer recall later on. That’s why it can feel like you “studied” for hours but still struggle to remember key concepts during exams.
Multitasking tends to interfere with something called deep processing. Cognitive science shows that the more meaningfully you engage with information by connecting ideas, asking questions, or applying concepts, the more likely you are to remember it as it will get transferred into your long term memory.
But when the attention you’re giving to those tasks is constantly interrupted, you stay at a surface level of understanding. In other words, it remains in your short term memory which isn’t nearly as reliable as its long term counterpart.
You’ve probably experienced this before: spending hours “studying,” only to realize during an exam that the material still feels unfamiliar, or having a tip of the tongue moment. This isn’t necessarily because you didn’t put in enough time, it may be because your attention was divided while you were learning.
There’s also evidence that suggests multitasking doesn’t just affect your own learning, it can impact others around you. Studies have found that students who use laptops for non-academic purposes during lectures are out-performed by their classmates who sit closer to the front. This highlights how powerful and disruptive divided attention can be in learning environments.
Ultimately, memory isn’t just about how long you study it’s about how well you focus while you’re doing it. When you give your full attention to one task, you’re far more likely to retain what you learn.
Why Multitasking Feels Productive
If multitasking is so ineffective, why do we keep doing it?
Part of the answer lies in how our brains respond to stimulation. Every notification, message, or new piece of content gives us a small hit of dopamine, the neurotransmitter associated with reward and motivation. This creates a loop where switching tasks feels satisfying, even if it’s not actually helping us learn. Multitasking also creates the illusion of productivity.
When you’re constantly doing something typing, clicking, scrolling—it feels like you’re making progress. But cognitive science suggests that being busy isn’t the same as being effective. Researchers have also found that students who multitask during lectures tend to perform worse on tests, even when they believe they’ve understood the material well. In other words, multitasking can trick you into thinking you’re learning more than you actually are.
What Cognitive Science Suggests Instead
The good news is that improving your focus doesn’t require completely overhauling your life. Small changes can make a big difference. Cognitive science consistently supports the benefits of single-tasking—focusing on one task at a time. This doesn’t mean you need to study for hours without breaks, but it does mean minimizing distractions during focused periods.
Some strategies that are backed by research include:
- Studying in short, focused blocks of time (like the Pomodoro technique).
- Putting your phone out of reach or on “Do Not Disturb.”
- Using active learning techniques like practice testing or self-quizzing.
- Taking intentional breaks instead of multitasking during study time.
- Even changing your environment, like choosing a quiet study space, can help reduce the urge to constantly switch tasks.
Multitasking might feel like the only way to survive university, but it often works against the way our brains actually function. Instead of helping you get more done, it can reduce your focus, weaken your memory, and ultimately affect your academic performance.
The goal isn’t to be perfect or eliminate distractions entirely; it’s to be more intentional with your attention. By working with your brain instead of against it, you can study more effectively, feel less overwhelmed, and maybe even spend less time re-reading the same page. Sometimes, doing less at once is exactly what helps you learn more.