Can't See the Forest for the Trees? The Effect of Media Multitasking on Cognitive Processing Style

Abstract

Media multitasking represents an important aspect of the recent evolution in media consumption habits. While some experimental research exists, it has primarily focused on the detrimental effects of multitasking on task performance. We go a step further by examining the impact of media multitasking on information processing style. Study I demonstrates that media multitasking, compared to sequential media consumption, leads to a more local perceptual processing style. Furthermore, the frequency of media switching predicts the level of perceptual processing. Study II extends these findings by showing that media multitasking also affects conceptual processing style. Specifically, media multitasking leads to lower-level (or more concrete) construal of behavior in a subsequent task. It further shows that conceptual rather than visual switching between media drives the observed differences in conceptual processing. These findings suggest that, as a growing phenomenon, media multitasking behavior may substantially alter how media viewers process media content.

The Relationship Between Media Multitasking and Attention Problems in Adolescents: Results of Two Longitudinal Studies

“…Accordingly, research by Ophir et al (2009) suggests that media multitasking may have detrimental effects on attention because it results in a reduced ability to ignore irrelevant information. Similarly, Kazakova, Cauberghe, Pandelaere, and de Pelsmacker (2015) have shown experimentally that a media multitasking situation leads to differences in processing style immediately following this situation.…”

From Use to Overuse: Digital Inequality in the Age of Communication Abundance

“…Panek (2012Panek ( , 2014 demonstrates that the immediate availability of many media choices unconsciously biases selection behavior and favors overuse. Research on computer multitasking has shown that having to switch between different frames and windows increases the perception of being overwhelmed by data and information and decreases cognitive performance (e.g., Kazakova, Cauberghe, Pandelaere, & De Pelsmacker, 2015;Ophir, Nass, & Wagner, 2009;Yeykelis, Cummings, & Reeves, 2014). Scholars have also investigated procrastination practices in the daily use of digital media as linked to excessive Internet use (Meier, Reinecke, & Meltzer, 2016;Reinecke et al, 2016).…”

Everyday functioning-related cognitive correlates of media multitasking: a mini meta-analysis

“…First, studies must have examined the association between measures of media multitasking and self-report measures of cognition, or psychological traits or mental-health issues related to cognition. Therefore, four review articles (Aagaard, 2015;Carrier, Rosen, Cheever, & Lim, 2015;Lin, 2009;van der Schuur et al, 2015), two meta-analysis (Jeong & Hwang, 2016; Wiradhany & Nieuwenstein, 2017), one measurement validity article (Baumgartner, Lemmens, Weeda, & Huizinga, 2017), 12 articles which only included laboratory task performance measures Alzahabi, Becker, & Hambrick, 2017;Cain & Mitroff, 2011;Edwards & Shin, 2017;Gorman & Green, 2016;Lui & Wong, 2012;Moisala et al, 2016;Murphy et al, 2017;Ophir et al, 2009;Ralph & Smilek, 2016;Ralph et al, 2015;Yap & Lim, 2013), two articles in which the level of media multitasking was manipulated (Kazakova, Cauberghe, Pandelaere, & De Pelsmacker, 2015;Lin, Robertson, & Lee, 2009), one article in which only a brain imaging measure was used (Loh & Kanai, 2014) and two articles in which only media multitasking behavior was observed (Loh, Tan, & Lim, 2016;Rigby, Brumby, Gould, & Cox, 2017) were excluded from further eligibility assessment.…”