Mark Bullen notes that a recent study, Cognitive control in media multitaskers, suggests that “people who consider themselves [media] multitaskers aren’t actually very good at multitasking.”
262 students participated in a questionnaire (for course credit) administered online which addressed 12 media forms: print media, television, computer-based video, music, nonmusic audio, video or computer games, telephone and mobile phone voice calls, instant messaging, SMS (text messaging), email, web surfing, and other computer-based applications (such as word processing). Based on results, certain students (above mean, below mean) completed tasks accessing different facets of cognitive control. A second study was completed with 30 students.
With the diffusion of larger computing screens supporting multiple windows and browsers, chat, and SMS, and portable media coupled with social and work expectations of immediate responsiveness, media multitasking is quickly becoming ubiquitous. These changes are placing new demands on cognitive processing, and especially on attention allocation. If the growth of multitasking across individuals leads to or encourages the emergence of a qualitatively different, breadth-biased profile of cognitive control, then the norm of multiple input streams will have significant consequences for learning, persuasion, and other media effects. If, however, these differences in cognitive control abilities and strategies stem from stable individual differences, many individuals will be increasingly unable to cope with the changing media environment. The determination of cause and effect and the implications of these differing strategies for other types of information processing are critical issues for understanding cognition in the 21st century.
Multitaskers Bad at Multitasking |Net Gen Skeptic | Mark Bullen | 24 August 2009
News
Subscribe by Email
Follow us on Twitter
Join us on Facebook
Join us on LinkedIn
