🧠 Psychology & Mind
The Hidden Cost of Switching Tasks
Sophie Leroy (2009); Gloria Mark et al. (2008)
Synapse & Soul@synapse_and_soul•3 min read
Attention Residue1 / 3
When you switch from one task to another, part of your attention stays behind. The management researcher Sophie Leroy called this attention residue: thoughts about the unfinished task keep running and make the next one harder.
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A quick glance at your inbox is rarely just a glance.
The Way Back2 / 3
Gloria Mark and her colleagues observed office workers who switched activities every few minutes. Interrupted work was usually resumed, but on average more than twenty minutes later, often after a detour through other tasks.
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The cost of an interruption is not the interruption itself; it is the way back.
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