02/14/2024

When It’s Okay to Check Your Email During a Zoom Call

Multitasking can affect your productivity

When you're on a Zoom call, especially one with a lot of participants, you’ve probably given in to the temptation of multitasking. Maybe you checked your email, scrolled social media, or made a grocery list. The virtual world can offer plenty of slack when it comes to doing things off-screen.

But when can multitasking while in a video meeting be productive and not rude? New research from Binghamton University’s School of Management shows that combining communication tasks can have a positive impact in certain situations, says Jinglu Jiang, the assistant professor who conducted the research.

"Usually, people believe multitasking is splitting attention to different tasks and that may hinder your task performance," she said. "But being on Zoom and checking your email can be considered 'multi-communicating.' And there could be a positive effect because it can also be about information searching."

Please select this link to read the complete article from Fast Company.