Uses and gratifications of multiscreen news consumption among Spanish youth

This paper aims to describe how Spanish youth use multiscreen in a news search context, and what are the gratifications they obtain through this multichannel model. A survey was responded by a panel of 441 individuals representative of the national population in an 18-35 age range. Five gratifications were found: the desire to obtain “information in real time,” “social interaction,” “comprehension,” “leisure,” and “habit.” The desire to obtain “information in real time” predicts multiscreen use behavior when searching for news. Moreover, three factors are relevant when predicting the duration of multiscreen use: “information in real time,” “social interaction,” and “leisure.”Este artículo tiene como objetivo describir cómo los jóvenes españoles utilizan la multipantalla en un contexto de búsqueda de noticias y cuáles son las gratificaciones que obtienen a través de este modelo multicanal. Se realizó una encuesta que fue respondida por un panel de 441 individuos representativos de la población nacional en un rango de edad de 18 a 35 años. Se encontraron cinco gratificaciones: el deseo de obtener “información en tiempo real”, “interacción social”, “comprensión”, “ocio” y “hábito”. El deseo de obtener “información en tiempo real” predice el comportamiento de uso de múltiples pantallas en la búsqueda de noticias. Además, tres factores son relevantes al predecir la duración del uso de múltiples pantallas: “información en tiempo real”, “interacción social” y “ocio”

THE COST OF MULTITASKING: A COMPUTER-ASSISTED QUANTITATIVE STUDY OF TASK-SWITCHING COSTS IN SPEED AND ACCURACY BY AGE AND GENDER

Multitasking is known to have negative impacts on productivity. However, there has been no systematic study on its negative effects comparing age and gender groups at a large scale.  Due to limitations in previous methods, this study aimed to develop an original web-based Multitasking Test (MTT) tool and then use it to test a large sample of diverse participants on their task-switching costs (time and accuracy lost when multitasking).  MTT allowed participants (N = 1,004) to each conduct 6 pattern-matching tasks with playing cards (20 trials per task).  Results indicated that (a) high schoolers took 95% more time and made 120% more errors when multitasking than when performing single tasks separately; (b) the 22-25 age group performed the best among all groups, consistent with previous neuroscience findings that the human brain does not reach maturity until 24 years old; and (c) there were significant gender differences (p < .001) in switching costs in time, potentially explained by gender differences in the structural connectome of human brains.  This study presents an innovative, computer-assisted methodological design and demonstrates how multitasking has switching costs across all age and gender groups regardless of prior experiences and education level.  In addition to presenting strong empirical data that support the Cognitive Load Theory, it also provides a reliable multitasking paradigm for further studies in cognitive science, developmental psychology, and neuroscience. &nbsp

Stimulating Preservice Teachers' Beliefs about the Benefits of Everyday Technology in Their Teaching.

Interest has been developing in the uses of everyday technologies, such as video games, cell phones, and social networking sites, for teaching and learning in K-12 schools. This study examines issues related to pre-service secondary teachers' preferences for teaching with these everyday tools. The study begins by examining the disconnect between students’ everyday technology use and the technology used in classroom instruction. Second, I explore the belief that everyday technology tools are important to student learning and that teachers need help understanding how to effectively use everyday technology tools in classroom instruction. I investigated the beliefs of 45 entering preservice teachers taking a 6-month educational technology course as part of a Masters and Certification program at a research university. This was a qualitative study with a grounded theory approach, aiming to meet three objectives. First to understand if there was a connection between the technology tools preservice teachers used in their everyday lives and the technology tools they plan to integrate into their future classrooms. To explore this objective data was collected from the preservice teachers in the form of drawings and lists concerning their vision of technology tools inside and outside of education. The findings illuminated that the entering preservice teachers did not envision using students’ everyday technology tools in their teaching. The second objective was to experiment with various teaching strategies in the technology education course to help the preservice teachers adopt everyday technology instruction for their future teaching. The third objective was to pinpoint how, when and why belief change did or did not occur in the preservice teachers. To explore the second and third objectives data was collected on the preservice teachers’ reflecting in web blog journals. It became evident from the findings that 39 of the 45 students adopted everyday technology instruction. The preservice teachers fell into one of five adoption categories: early adoption, middle adoption, late adoption, interested adoption, or non-adoption. In the context of this study there did not seem to be a single factor that led to adoption. This study has implications for developing preservice education experiences that foster everyday technology instruction.Ph.D.EducationUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/75940/1/elikeren_1.pd

Media Multitasking and Executive Functioning in Young Adults

The purpose of this thesis was to determine the relationships between young adults executive functioning and media multitasking. This was addressed through the systematic exploration of executive functioning utilising behavioural performance tasks, informed by Diamond’s (2013) executive function framework that details three functions; inhibition, working memory and cognitive flexibility, in relation to media multitasking. In fulfilling this aim, an initial investigation was conducted which assessed self-reported frequency of media multitasking (utilising the Media Multitasking Index by Ophir, Nass & Wagner, 2009, including the full continuum of scores) in relation to performance on executive function tasks assessing inhibition, working memory and cognitive flexibility. No association between aspects of young adults executive functioning and self-reported frequency of media multitasking was found. Following this, the thesis continued with the systematic exploration of inhibition, working memory and cognitive flexibility in relation to media multitasking, progressing with the inclusion of a novel assessment of media multitasking ability. Within this second study, media multitasking was explored using objective measures, with participants completing a media multitasking situation. This type of media multitasking assessment has not previously been used in conjunction with performance on a full battery of executive function tasks. The study demonstrated an association between young adults’ cognitive flexibility and their ability to media multitask, in terms of recall of information from a media multitasking situation. It also reflected real world implications of media multitasking in terms of including a novel manipulation of media multitasking within a single device or between multiple devices. Lastly, the final empirical study explored the proximal effects of media multitasking on executive functioning in young adults, for which none were found. In addition to the main aim, a concern of the thesis was to explore the relationship between trait mood and media multitasking. In this regard, self-reported media multitasking was associated with trait anxiety, with higher levels of anxiety associated with more frequent media multitasking in young adults. Other aspects of mood were also assessed throughout the two latter empirical studies, which highlighted a possible fatiguing effect of media engagement (inclusive of media multitasking) on mood. This thesis found no evidence that young adults’ self-reported frequency of media multitasking is associated with their executive functioning. However, there is evidence of the involvement of cognitive flexibility in young adults’ ability to media multitask, when assessing the recall of information from a session of media multitasking. Furthermore, media multitasking between multiple devices is no more detrimental than media multitasking within a single device in terms of the recall of information from a media multitasking situation. Additionally, media engagement (inclusive of media multitasking) does not proximally affect executive function performance although it may fatigue mood

The Relationship Between Facebook™ Activity and Academic Performance Among African American Students

This non-experimental, regression study examined the relationship between FacebookTM activity and academic performance for an African American sample population. The study was conducted at a large, four-year, private university in the Mid-Atlantic. All undergraduate, African American students enrolled in the College of General Studies, School of Health Sciences, and School of Education comprised the sample population. Volunteer participants completed a FacebookTM Activity Survey, which is an instrument used to collect semester grade point averages (GPAs), time-use of FacebookTM, multitasking information, type of FacebookTM activities, and demographic information. The results of the survey were analyzed using hierarchical multiple regression statistics. The analysis showed the strength of the relationship between the predictor variables (average daily minutes of using FacebookTM, demographic data, academic data, daily minutes of multitasking, and types of FacebookTM activities used while multitasking) and the criterion variable (semester GPA). The results of the study suggested that FacebookTM activities did not have a statistically significant contribution on the participants\u27 semester GPAs

Media Multitasking: A Bibliometric Approach and Literature Review

Media multitasking became increasingly popular over the past decade. As this behavior is intensely taxing cognitive resources, it has raised interest and concerns among academics in a variety of fields. Consequently, in recent years, research on how, when, and why people media multitask has strongly emerged, and the consequences of the behavior for a great variety of outcomes (such as working memory, task performance, or socioemotional outcomes) have been explored. While efforts are made to summarize the findings of media multitasking research until date, these meta, and literature studies focused on specific research subdomains. Therefore, the current study adopted a quantitative method to map all studies in the broad field of media multitasking research. The bibliometric and thematic content analyses helped us identifying five major research topics and trends in the overall media multitasking domain. While media multitasking research started by studying its prevalence, appearance, and predictors, early research within the domain was also interested in the impact of this media consumption behavior on individuals' cognitive control and academic performance. Later on in 2007, scholars investigated the implications of media multitasking on the processing of media- and persuasive content, while its impact on socioemotional well-being received attention ever since 2009. Our analyses indicate that research within the field of media multitasking knows a dominant focus on adolescents, television watching, and cognitive depletion. Based on these findings, the paper concludes by discussing directions for future research

Elektronisk media och dess inverkan på kreativitet

The purpose of this study was to examine how students' creativity is affected by the use of Instant Messenger and electronic media. The hypotheses were that students who use Instant Messenger will underperform on creativity tests, and that there is a negative relationship between high media usage and performance on creativity tests. The study was conducted as an experiment on a total of 50 students aged 19-30. Participants in the experimental condition, and the control condition carried out a Guilford's Alternative Uses Task. This is followed by a form consisting of Media & Technology Usage and Attitudes Scale and the Creative Behavior Inventory. The results showed that students who use Instant Messenger during the experiment, get significantly lower creativity scores. The number of hours the media does not seem to have any significant relationship to creative activities.Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka hur studenters kreativitet påverkas av användandet av Instant messenger och elektronisk media. Hypoteserna var att studenter som använder instant messenger kommer prestera sämre på kreativitetstest och att det finns en negativa relation mellan hög medieanvändning och prestation på kreativitetstest. Studien utfördes som ett experiment på totalt 50 studenter i åldrarna 19-30. Deltagarna har under experimentförhållande, respektive kontroll utfört en Guilford's Alternative Uses Task uppgift. Detta följt av ett formulär bestående av Media & Technology Usage and Attitudes Scale och Creative Behavior Inventory. Resultatet visade på att studenter som använder Instant messenger under experimentet får en signifikant lägre kreativitetspoäng. Antalet timmar spenderat på media verkar dock inte ha något signifikant samband till kreativa aktiviteter

Determinants of Multitasking Behavior Among Young Adults During Group Meetings: Attitudes on Norms, Polychronicity and Multicommunicating

Research on the influence of multitasking behavior on efficacy of outcomes is mixed. Many researchers consider multitasking to enhance individuals’ productivity when it is managed properly, and others argue that it is detrimental in some cases. This study is about understanding multitasking behavior of young adults during group meetings. Group meetings are an integral part of communication practices in organization. Group meetings are essential for training, planning, and completing a task that requires participation from all members of a group. One of the norms in group meetings is the expectation to focus on task at hand and pay attention to what is going on in the meeting. However, today, as all of us carry powerful computing handheld devices, such as smartphones, there is a likelihood that we may use it to communicate with people outside a group meeting or to do a task unrelated to the meeting at hand. When young adults enter college, they get the opportunity to develop professional skills and abide by norms that guide such professional settings. They often put the skills and norms into practice as part of class projects, student organizations, work study employees in offices, or as interns in organizations. College students carry their experiences of working in groups and participating in office group meetings to the professional world when they graduate. However, today’s college students as digital natives seem to be more accepting of multitasking, especially using their handheld devices such as smartphones during group meetings. Studying college students’ attitudes with regards to multitasking during group meetings will help us understand their motivations for these behaviors. This study will examine the factors that influences multitasking behavior with respect to polychronicity, multicommunicating, utility of media and technology, social and professional norms, and big-five personality. The findings show that perception of media utility and technology and observing others behavior is stronger in predicting multitasking behavior. Additionally, the study found that when students come into college, they tend to be high multitaskers in group meetings, but as they stay in college and move from freshmen to senior, they tend to get socialized into multitasking during group meetings