Context-Switching Cost
Context-switching cost is the time and focus lost when someone moves between different apps or tasks and has to re-orient before they can continue working.
How it works
Every time someone leaves a task to check a different app - a chat notification, a separate inbox - they don't return to full focus immediately. A widely cited 2008 study by Gloria Mark at UC Irvine, 'The Cost of Interrupted Work,' found people took an average of 23 minutes and 15 seconds to return to an interrupted task at the same level of focus.
How it differs from adjacent concepts
It differs from message handling time, which is about the effort of dealing with messages themselves. Context-switching cost is specifically about the interruption tax of moving between separate tools to reach those messages in the first place - the two compound when communication is spread across many apps, but they're distinct costs.
Where Twintual fits
Consolidating channels into one governed layer reduces how often someone has to switch apps just to check whether something needs their attention - the mechanism covered in more detail in the message-handling-time guide.
Frequently asked questions
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