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Familiarity with multiple media forms may increase ability to multitask

SAN DIEGO — Adolescents may be more adept at multitasking due to their experience with handling multiple media streams simultaneously, according to findings presented at the 2014 AAP National Conference and Exhibition.

Sarayu Caulfield and Alexandra Ulmer, seniors at Oregon Episcopal School in Portland, Ore., surveyed 196 females and 207 males, aged 10 to 19 years, about their daily media habits and asked them to complete the Stanford Multitasking Media Index, which evaluates how frequently a person multitasks. In addition, participants completed tests that assessed their ability to juggle tasks and focus and another that assessed emotion recognition. They were randomly assigned to complete these tasks sequentially with no distractions (ie, nonmultitasking) or complete tests simultaneously with auditory, visual and cognitive tasks such as replying to emails and counting songs (ie, multitasking).

Adolescents who were considered high media multitaskers performed significantly better on all measures of multitasking than those considered low media multitaskers. Low media multitaskers spent an average of 20 minutes daily multitasking; high media multitaskers performed an average of 3 hours per day multitasking.

Low media multitaskers spent an average 2.5 hours on homework per day and multitasked 0.8% of this time. High media multitaskers did homework for about 3.5 hours daily and multitasked for more than 50% of this time.

Adolescents who scored high on media multitasking were better at disregarding distractions but performed worse when focusing on a single task. Similarly, adolescents with low media multitasking scores focused better on single tasks but were less capable of filtering out distractions.

“In our current multimedia environment, there are people who are multitasking at an exceedingly high rate, and the reality is that they may have become really good at it,” Caulfield said in a press release.

It is important to note, according to the researchers, that most participants performed better when focusing on a single task. The high media multitaskers, however, were an exception to that finding.

“This study suggest that digital natives (adolescents who grew up with exposure to multiple media) with high multiple media use may have developed an enhanced working memory and perform better in distracting environments than when focused on a single task with no distractions. This could have a significant impact on teaching styles and curriculum,” Ulmer said in the release.

For more information:

Caulfield S. Abstract #27323. Presented at: 2014 AAP National Conference and Exhibition; Oct. 11-14, 2014; San Diego.

Disclosure: Infectious Diseases in Children was unable to confirm any relevant financial disclosures.