{"id":22741,"date":"2023-05-18T12:22:11","date_gmt":"2023-05-18T12:22:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.etags.com\/blog\/?p=22741"},"modified":"2026-01-20T11:20:58","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T11:20:58","slug":"multitasking-while-behind-the-wheel-heres-how-it-affects-your-brain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.etags.com\/blog\/multitasking-while-behind-the-wheel-heres-how-it-affects-your-brain\/","title":{"rendered":"Multitasking While Behind The Wheel? Here\u2019s How It Affects Your Brain!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Aaaah, multitasking. Not enough hours in the day. Too much to do. Work, errands, paperwork, kids\u2019 after-school activities, dinner, and the to-do list goes on. Welcome to modern times! Switching between two or more tasks is taxing on the brain. Research shows it hampers productivity by reducing comprehension, attention, and performance (VeryWellMind).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

By shifting goals while driving, you choose to do one task now over another<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Multitasking while driving leads to nine fatalities a day<\/strong><\/h2>\n

While behind the wheel not only has negative impact on how you drive, but it\u2019s downright dangerous. It can cost you your life and\/or someone else\u2019s. Distracted driving, that\u2019s what multitasking behind the wheel is, is one of the biggest and preventable causes of traffic fatalities.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Across the nation, numbers are up for distracted driving car accidents, injuries, and fatalities. The NHSTA says it claimed 3,522 lives in 2021 alone. In 2019, 424,000 people were injured in car crashes involving distracted drivers.<\/p>\n

What is multitasking while driving<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Unfortunately, there are many driving distractions or ways to multitask when you\u2019re on the road. The long list includes cellphone use like talk\/text\/social media , eating\/drinking\/smoking, parenting the kids in the backseat, applying makeup, playing with the radio, daydreaming, and more.<\/p>\n

In experiments published in 2001, shifting between tasks can cost as much as 40% of someone’s productive time<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

Just think of all the things you try to do while driving, or at a red light. In a nutshell, you\u2019re multitasking anytime your attention is away from the road and onto something else.<\/p>\n

SEE ALSO: NEVER LEAVE THESE IN YOUR CAR-FLAMMABLES, WATER BOTTLES, AND MORE<\/a><\/p>\n

The brain on multitasking<\/strong><\/h2>\n

When you multitask, it drains the brain of energy. Why? Because you\u2019re forcing it to switch back and forth to finish the tasks at hand, but with less efficiency and quality. At the risk of getting a bit too technical, your prefrontal cortex ignites when focusing on one task, splitting into the right side and the left side. Together, these two sides assist the brain in engaging in a single task.<\/p>\n

If there are two things to do, at hand, these two sides (now) work independently of each other, each focusing only on one task. Essentially, by multitasking you\u2019re splitting the brain and affecting performance. Bad performance behind the wheel can cost you your life. Driving requires tons of concentration, you\u2019re not only focusing on what\u2019s going on in front of you, but you\u2019re also anticipating what\u2019s next, as well as having to use quick reflexes to avoid surprising elements like say debris flying off from a truck.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Chronic multitaskers tend to show more impulsivity, lower levels of executive control and are often distracted easily<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

You remember only two tasks, so driving safety gets forgotten<\/strong><\/h2>\n

If your brain receives too much information, or signals, at the same time, the posterior lateral prefontal cortex takes over. It lines up these signals in order, instead of processing it all at the same time. Only two signals can line up, the rest gets forgotten. So if you\u2019re texting while driving, talking to the kids in the backseat, the road ahead and everything else you\u2019ve got to do to stay safe goes out the window.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Aaaah, multitasking. Not enough hours in the day. Too much to do. Work, errands, paperwork, kids\u2019 after-school activities, dinner, and the to-do list goes on. Welcome to modern times! Switching…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,9,16],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-22741","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-cars","7":"category-distracted-driving","8":"category-safety"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMultitasking While Behind The Wheel? 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