The Science of Multitasking, and Why Doodling Might Help in a Boring Class

Multitasking is either a myth or an art—and the difference between the two is in how you do it

One good example of productive multitasking is doodling during a boring lecture to occupy enough of your mind to allow the rest of it to actually focus on the lecture. Shutterstock

When somebody can juggle lots of things at the same time, we often say that they are good “multitaskers.” All of us multitask once in a while.

But psychologists have been warning us about it for decades. Some say it’s harmful to productivity and others say you can’t do it at all.