You start working on something and then find yourself not being able to remember what you wanted to do or say. Still another symptom is an inability to sustain a peaceful night's sleep or to enjoy what used to be calming, recreational times. Too many thoughts are buzzing in your head. In the end, Multitasking Madness diminishes your productivity and makes you work harder just to feel like you are barely keeping up with all your work. Yet if you look around you you'll see people multitasking everywhere, largely because of technology.
People even check pagers and answer cellular phones on the golf course.
Research shows that our eroding ability to estimate time accurately also contributes to Multitasking Madness. Ask someone how long it will take to download, read, and answer e-mail. Then check the actual time. You'll generally find that the person underestimated the time required. This discrepancy leads us to pile more expectations on ourselves.