Stanford University researchers have challenged a prevailing myth that multitaskers are processing and performing on a higher mesa than their less-tasked counterparts.

"The prevailing wisdom among people who multitask is that they're skilled and adept and they handle it really well," Clifford Nass, a 51-year-old communications professor and one of the study's authors, told Bloomberg "We thought maybe these multitaskers are gods, information processing geniuses. Instead they're lousy at what they're doing a whole lot of."

"I was jealous. I embarked on this thinking, 'What is it they do that I can't do?' And it turns out - nothing."

The study, published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, evaluated students' "media consumption" and gave them computer-based exercises that tested their ability to recall details presented rapidly and with distractions. Heavy multitaskers did the worst in filtering out distractions and remembering key information.

They just can't seem to concentrate.

An author of a 2005 study said the new findings raise "serious red flags."

"Young people are multitasking all the time and as new media platforms emerge, multitasking is going up and up and up," said Vicky Rideout, a co-author of a 2005 Kaiser Foundation study. "Understanding whether it's something that helps kids function in a multitasking world or that hinders their ability to concentrate and focus when they need to is really important."

Wired has more - although you probably have too much going on already.