“Our brains do not parallel process information.”13 As a result, when you attempt to maintain multiple ongoing electronic conversations while also working on a primary task like writing a report or coding a computer program, your prefrontal cortex must continually jump back and forth between different goals, each requiring the amplification and suppression of different brain networks. Not surprisingly, this network switching is not an instantaneous process; it requires both time and cognitive resources. When you try to do it rapidly, things get messy.
