Turning abstract cognitive load into something you can measure today.
DesignEdan Yang · Feb–Mar 2026
First DeployedMukiya official landing page · Apr 2026
Author Buildedanyang.github.io · May 2026
An Interactive Tool · By Edan Yang
Cognitive Load Check
a brief self-diagnostic for the unseen weight of your work day
A short, honest check on the way you work today: which tools are open, what you're really thinking about, what gets in the way. At the end, you'll see a picture of your own day — and how much of it was already spent before the work began.
Step 1 of 2
Which tools are you using right now?
Select every tool you'd typically have open on a working day.
AI Assistants
ChatGPTClaudeGeminiCopilotPerplexityGrok
Writing & Editing
Notion AIGrammarlyJasperCopy.aiSudowriteLex
Meetings & Async
Otter.aiLoomZoom AIFirefliesGranola
Workflow & Ops
Slack AILinear AIZapier AIMakeReclaimMotion
Design & Visual
Figma AIMidjourneyRunwayCanva AIAdobe Firefly
Research & Search
ElicitConsensusGleanBrowse AISynthesia
How many real thinking problems have you tackled today — the kind that need judgment, a decision, or genuine creative work?6
151015
6 deep problems — sustained overload territory. Several working-memory states competing for the same room.
Select at least one tool to continue
Step 2 of 2
Checking
What's happening
The numbers
Recovery time today
—
share of your working day
From tool switching
— tools
—
~1–2 minutes to re-orient each cross-tool switch
From deep problems
— problems
—
cost per problem increases as the count grows
Weekly estimate
—
hours spent recovering — invisible to any work log
For the rest of today
Estimates are grounded in research by Dr. Gloria Mark (UC Irvine) on context-switching, and in the broader cognitive-science literature on working-memory reconstruction costs. The figures reflect a pattern, not a precise measurement.