PORTLAND, Ore. - Multi-tasking is the art of doing several things at once but did you know that it actually makes you less productive?

The more technology advances, the more multi-tasking we do and despite the fact that most people think it works, new research just doesn't back that up.

Working on several tasks at once can take up to four times longer than tackling them one at a time.

Researchers, like Jonathan Spira with Basex based out of New York, have been studying the phenomenon that he calls 'information overload.'

With e-mails, instant messages and all the devices we have to keep track of it all, we are in constant contact and are constantly stopping and starting different jobs.

"We found out that the recovery time could be up to 20 times the amount of the interruption, which was a stunning revelation," said Spira.

In short, it is making people less productive.

"We've calculated just one component of information overload and it's over $650 billion," said Spira.  "That just gives you an idea of how big a problem we are talking about."

So how can we cut back?  According to Spira, know what you need to communicate and the best medium to communicate with  If you have an urgent issue that needs an immediate response, use the phone.  If it isn't urgent, then send an e-mail.  Most importantly, do not send out unnecessary messages.

The trick is to understand the impact your communication will have and do what you can to reduce it.  But that is easier said than done.

Spira also recommends that you don't reply to messages with a 'thanks' or 'I got it,' which get people off track. Of course, then you could end up wasting time trying to make sure the person got the message you sent.