A Myth of Productivity: Multiple Monitors are Hurting You
You are sitting at your computer. You have two, even three screens in front of you. To the right, you have your inbox and Slack. Front and center, you have your editor. On the left is your browser, open with the documents you are reading. If you only had one more screen where you could have a music player open at all times or a YouTube! tab open.
You are in the zone and in control. You are Dwight in The Office, sitting at Megadesk. You are Rami Malek. You are Hugh Jackman in Swordfish, creating a virus in the shape of a cube that hacks the… err.. I don’t even remember. Whatever. You look cool.
Multiple computer screens are a staple of the “tech-savvy.” But you know what? They aren’t helping. They give you this great look but are not doing you any favors. Let’s break them down. Hopefully, literally.
Though we seem capable of multitasking, research suggests that our minds are typically more efficient when focusing on one task. Every switch includes an overhead. We let go of the topic we were thinking about, experience residual attention, and then try to consume this new topic again.
