Multitasking is a tempting way to get more things done in less time, but web site WebMD says that multitasking often comes at the detriment of some tasks, especially learning: “Results are always worse when you multitask, but in some areas they’re especially compromised,” says Russell Poldrack, PhD, associate professor of psychology at UCLA. Learning takes a big hit, for instance. “Our research shows that if you try to master something while splitting your attention, brain activity switches regions; from memory building to short-term habit making,” he says.

A good rule of thumb is to multitask what you want to execute, rather than absorb, and choose jobs where mistakes won’t matter.

The article suggests that you can also more successfully multitask if your tasks are of different types. Counterintuitive as it may seem, the less two activities have in common, the better multitask partners they are. Then again, everyone’s talking about how multitasking makes you less productive, so if you do decide to multitask, choose your tasks wisely.