Social media has become an integral aspect of individuals’ lives including young adults. With the rise in the use of technology, young adults have been noted to use a form of a. social media while performing a cognitive task which is known as media multitasking. This can be seen as college students listen to music while they study or have a social media website open on their laptops during class. Lack of attention retainability, susceptibility to errors, and memory distortions are the negative aspects associated with media multitasking. The positive aspects of media multitasking include increased multisensory integration and ability to focus and think quickly in loud environments. Listening to music, a form of media multitasking, also showed positive results in regard to anxiety levels. Media multitasking can also beneficially affect an individual in their professional field as exemplified by teachers and their creativity. Through research, the positive and negative effects of media multitasking on young adults in relation to how it affects their brains will be discussed.
The world is constantly evolving with the advancement of technology and social media. Social media websites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are dominating an individual’s life and leads to media multitasking. Multitasking is a general term used to describe when a person does two tasks at the same time or frequently switches tasks. Media multitasking, specifically, is practiced by young people and refers to the usage of medias of communication and interaction while completing academic or professional work. While media multitasking may be recognized as a trivial matter, it is important to analyze the positive and negative effects media multitasking has on an individual’s mind in order to determine how it affects an individual’s daily life.
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Background Information
With the rise of social media, media multitasking is practiced by young adults from the ages 18-28 in modern day. Examples of media multitasking include listening to music while studying, watching television while doing homework, or texting while finishing an assignment. According to a study conducted by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, around 97% of undergraduate and graduate students use digital devices during class for non-academic purposes. The study went on to discuss that using digital devices has unfortunately become a trend found in universities as students get distracted by social media, text messages, and email notifications during class time. An estimated 70% of students check a form of social media and 40% surf the internet on irrelevant material during the time spend in lecture classes. In most cases, the behavior of a student within a classroom is parallel to their work ethic outside class which explains why media multitasking has become an integral aspect of students’ lives (McCoy, 2013).
Young adults, who attend undergraduate or graduate school, in particular are prone to media multitasking due to the extensive amount of time spend in lecture classes or studying. Unfortunately, students check social media due to the boredom that is faced while learning material that is uninteresting to them. Dr. Scott Campbell, an associate professor at the University of Michigan, states that “Young people turn to digital media as an immediate way to relieve boredom and, sadly, the classroom is one of the environments in which they most commonly experience boredom,” in an effort to explain why media multitasking is frequently present in young adults (McCoy, 2013, p. 4). In addition, checking social media has become a habit for most students that some even do it unconsciously and unintentionally.
Negative Aspects of Media Multitasking
A common myth is that people can attend to more than one task at a time. Research indicates, however, that people can only attend to one cognitive task at a time with the exception of a physical task. More mistakes are made with multitasking due to certain parts in the brain being overused. For example, the prefrontal cortex is involved in shifting and focusing attention while the posterior lobe follows the guidelines for each task and the anterior cingulate gyrus identifies errors. However, when more than one task is conducted at the same time, certain parts of the brain are not as efficient and not able to quickly identify and correct mistakes (Ralph et al., 2014). Media multitasking is no exception to this rule. Reduction of task performance can be explained by the wide attention scope found in heavy media multitasking individuals. A wide attention scope results in goal relevant and goal irrelevant stimuli competing for the same amount of attention and thus lowered performance on goal driven task (Uncapher et al., 2016). Given that academic work and social media demand the same amount of attention from an individual’s brain, individuals are more prone to making errors in academic work while practicing media multitasking.
Media multitasking has been associated with lack of complete attention and susceptibility to distractions. A positive correlation was identified between individuals with high levels of media multitasking and their levels of mind wandering, lack of attention, and the amount of attention deficit derived errors. High multitasking subjects scored low on tests such as MAAS-LO and ARCES which were designed to test attention retainability (Ralph et al., 2014). Heavy media multitaskers were observed to adopt a split visuospatial attention mode in which their focus was redirected to several other stimuli. Low media multitaskers were able to focus on one task and utilized a unitary attention mode in regard to how their attention was allocated (Uncapher et al., 2016).
There was lack of correlation between minimal media multitasking users and memory failure. Minimal media multitaskers limit and rarely use social media while completing a cognitive task (Ralph et al., 2014). In a study conducted amongst Stanford University students, heavy media multitaskers (HMM) were shown to have memory distortion and reduced integration levels of new material. Though all material related to the cognitive task was sensed and processed by the brain at one point, the memories could not be clearly retrieved shortly after. Regardless of whether an external distraction was present or not, HMM performed lower on working memory tasks which tested an individual’s ability to comprehend and process new information. The HMM’s lowered performance is explained by the wide attention scope they present. The transformation of a short-term memory into a long-term memory was observed to be interrupted and disrupted by irrelevant stimuli. As a result, there were improper encoding of the long-term memory which led to difficulty recalling information accurately based of the long-term memory (Uncapher et al., 2016).
Positive Aspects of Media Multitasking
Media multitasking also pertains positive qualities despite the various negative qualities that it is observed to carry. Media multitaskers were observed to possesses the ability to focus under loud and unusual circumstances compared to non-multitaskers. For example, students who studied while listening to a form of music, were noted to be able to focus better on the primary cognitive task under loud background noise compared to a student who needs complete silence to study. The constant presence of background sound has caused media multitaskers to adapt to unusual environments which is beneficial (Lui & Wong, 2012).
The motivation behind media multitasking should not be generalized for all practices. Studies have indicated that students listen to music while they study in order to cope with the anxiety that may come with learning difficult material. In a study where students were asked to conduct an oral presentation, individuals who prepared for the presentation while playing sedative music showed decreased levels of stress indicators. Furthermore, listening to music was shown to be not as detrimental, when comparing the amount of cognitive errors caused, compared to other medias of communication (Knight & Rickard, 2001).
Media multitasking correlated with levels of multisensory integration indicating that heavy media multitaskers were more aware of their surroundings. Heavy media multitaskers excelled in multisensory integration task, a type of cognitive task, due to their ability to integrate information from different sources. Heavy media multitaskers used different types of senses such as sound and sight to complete a task. The performance of heavy media multitaskers on the multisensory integration tasks indicates that they are not at a full disadvantage for all cognitive tasks and their experience can benefit them in certain tasks and situations (Lui & Wong, 2012).
Students who practiced media multitasking as undergraduate and graduate students possessed beneficial traits as they started working in their field of employment. For example, multitasking students who grew up to be teachers positively contributed to the classroom with their enhanced levels of multisensory integration, ability to integrate technology in an enjoyable manner for their students, and increased creativity levels. The teachers were able to think quick on their feet regardless of the situation and focus under deafening situations. Given that boredom is most often the reason for the practice of most media multitasking, the HMM teachers took initiative in assigning creative projects. As an effort to prevent themselves from getting bored, the teachers came up with stimulating activities which the students and teachers enjoyed. The various activities benefitted the students academically as students surpassed the passing score for tests in the subject that was taught interactively. As expected, technology was incorporated into classroom in an effort to enhance the learning process. Technology was viewed as a “catalyst for restructuring and redesigning the classroom to create an environment that promotes and encourages the development the higher-order skill evaluation” (Eisenwine & Hadley, 2011, p.8 ).
Conclusion
Media multitasking has changed the work behavior and cognitive abilities of an individual. Advances in technology has led to the increased use of social media amongst young adults even while they are doing academic work. The negative effects of media multitasking include inefficiency in cognitive tasks and attention impulsivity. Chronic media multitasking can lead to memory distortion and difficulty retrieving long term memories in an accurate manner. Media multitasking is an inevitable practice most young adults face, as a result of being constantly surrounded by technology. During the COVID-19 crisis, college students are facing the challenging of learning and studying for their classes at their homes. The change in environment and resources may affect an individual’s decision to media multitask whether it be due to stress or boredom of being home all day. However, it is important to note that media multitasking is not fully harmful to an individual and has positive qualities such as enhanced multisensory integration and ability to focus under loud circumstances along with thinking quickly. Additionally, studies have pointed that listening to music helps reduce stress levels. Media multitasking can be beneficial to individuals based on the field of employment they are in, as seen with teachers who were interactive with their students through creative assignments and the use of technology in classrooms. Thus, media multitasking should not be fully viewed as a detriment or helpful aid. The decision to media multitask should depend on the preference of the individual.
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