How attempting to multitask damages our attention 100 things

Product & Experience

Many times, we think we are multitasking well and we aren’t. A study by Ira Hyman (2009) showed that people walking while talking on cell phones ran into people (literally) more often, and were less likely to notice what was around them than people who were not talking on cell phones. The researchers had someone in a clown suit ride by on a unicycle. The people talking on a cell phone were much less likely to notice or remember the clown than those who were not multitasking.

The participant keeps walking and talking. A clown passes on a unicycle. The conversation continues without a pause. The participant receives no indication that they missed anything. At the next crossing, they would probably say they had been paying attention.

That confidence creates the expense. People can correct an error they notice. A detail they never register leaves no mark.

During a product test, a participant receives three routine notifications while completing a form. Each interruption lasts seconds. Afterwards, they return to the right screen and appear to continue. On the recording, they reread the previous field, check an earlier choice, then make an error two questions later.

The team removes two notifications and batches the third. They keep an interruptive payment warning because delay would matter. Marketing objects that fewer badges will reduce engagement. Support points to the abandoned forms. Both are measuring real behaviour at different moments.

“Users should be more disciplined” contributes nothing. The product team controls the timing, sound, badges and recovery path. They can preserve context, group routine alerts and reserve interruption for genuine urgency. Individuals can move phones away during demanding work, but restraint becomes easier when product teams stop demanding immediate tribute.

In the next test, the form is completed without an error. The participant remembers the payment warning. Outside the room, someone asks whether they noticed the poster by the door. They look back.