The analogy of a computer desktop to a physical one is apt, and, in my experience, as the size of my home office desk has increased, the screens on it have gotten bigger and more numerous. 'You don't have to turn the page as often, since you can fit more information on each page.' 'It's like having a book with larger pages,' he says. 'Multiple monitors reduce memory load by keeping more of your work in front of you,' says Cornell professor of ergonomics Alan Hedge, 'so you don't have to expend as much energy remembering where things are.' According to Hedge, multiple screens can also make us faster, saving us from the task of constantly searching through files and folders for information. Plenty of studies have pegged the productivity gained by adopting multiple monitors at anywhere from 9 to 50 percent (even if productivity for you means blasting opponents in StarCraft II while tweeting to your followers about how you totally pwned the Zerg).
And multiple monitors are uniquely useful for keeping track of numerous programs running simultaneously on your computer. For better or worse, it is a multitasking world we live in.
