Electronic media use, reading, and academic distractibility in college youth

ABSTRACT Activities that require focused attention, such as reading, are declining among American youth, while activities that depend on multitasking, such as instant messaging (IMing), are increasing. We hypothesized that more time spent IMing would relate to greater difficulty in concentrating on less externally stimulating tasks (e.g., academic reading). As hypothesized, the amount of time that young people spent IMing was significantly related to higher ratings of distractibility for academic tasks, while amount of time spent reading books was negatively related to distractibility. The distracting nature and the context of IMing in this population are described. 56

Two birds with one stone: The use of screen-time multitasking and its effect on attention and comprehension scores in college students

In today’s world, the use of media outlets has become an essential facet of daily life. One of the largest forms of media is distributed through the television streaming company Netflix. Netflix has become the world’s central line for screen-time entertainment, with over 62 million subscribers utilizing its streaming services (Mander, 2015). The present study asked whether screen-time multitasking affects attention and retention abilities in academic performance. In order to examine the main effect of media multitasking, I conducted a randomly assigned, single blind between groups study that manipulated the use of media multitasking and comprehension testing. An experimental group of undergraduate students (N=10) were told to complete a reading passage and follow-up comprehension questions while having a comedic five minute segment of “The Office” play in the background. The control group of undergraduate students (N=10) read the passage and took the comprehension test in a silent setting, without media influence. The results indicated that the experimental group required significantly longer times to complete the reading and comprehension questions (p\u3c.013) In addition, the group exposed to media multitasking scored significantly lower on the comprehension questions (p\u3c.035) and reported lower levels of confidence in relation to overall comprehension of the reading passage (p\u3c.04)

Plugged in: The effects of electronic media use on attention problems, cognitive control, visual attention, and aggression

The increasing use of electronic media increases the importance of the potential effects of those media (both positive and negative). A recent and growing body of research has focused on the potential for certain forms of electronic media, particularly television and video games, to increase attention problems and impulsiveness while decreasing self-control, executive function, proactive cognitive control, and also improving visual attention. These findings are also relevant to aggression as some of these outcomes have been associated with aggression in previous research and theory. In addition to replicating past findings relating some forms of electronic media use to greater attention problems and aggression, less proactive cognitive control, and superior visual attention, the present study produced several new findings. Watching videos on a computer, sending and receiving text messages by phone, and media multitasking are all associated with greater attention problems. Text messaging and media multitasking are also associated with lower reactive cognitive control. Both listening to music and playing music and party video games are associated with superior visual-spatial attention. Additionally, experimentally assigning participants to play an action video game for 10 sessions not only improved visual attention but also impaired proactive cognitive control, meaning positive and negative media effects can occur simultaneously

Investigating Multitasking with Technology in Academic Settings

The presence of multitasking has become more and more prevalent in most if not all aspects of today’s society. This reoccurring display of multitasking is extremely prominent within the classrooms of our nation’s colleges and universities. While supposedly paying attention to lectures and taking efficient notes, students can be seen texting and/or using social media on their phones, or having a wide variety of possible tabs and windows pulled up on their laptops or tablets. This apparent habit of almost every higher-education level student has raised a multitude of questions in various fields of study over the years. It has also provided professors with yet another obstacle that they must overcome to effectively teach their students. In this study, we explore these issues and develop an extensive conceptual model outlining the factors that may impact multitasking with technology in academic settings

CHILDREN\u27S LETTER LEARNING: THE EFFECT OF MANIPULATING VISUAL COMPLEXITY ON CHILDREN\u27S LETTER LEARNING

As a growing presence in homes and schools, technology plays an important role in the way that children learn in their environment. The early integration of technology within education reflects the promise of computer-based educational tools to facilitate early learning in children (Grant, Wood, Gottardo, Evans, Phillips, & Savage, 2012). Young learners are reported to be challenged with high levels of distractibility that can hinder their ability to learn in particular conditions and contexts (Fisher, Godwin, & Seltman, 2014). This can be a problem when considering that educational materials are often designed to be elaborate to keep young learners interested. For this reason, the present study sought to determine the effect of visually “busy” versus visually “simpler” backgrounds during a video presentation meant to encourage the development of alphabetic knowledge. The participants recruited for this study included 20 preschoolers, 20 children in grade two, and 32 undergraduate students. Participants were presented with unfamiliar letter shapes (Arabic and Hebrew letters) in each of the two video contexts (busy and simpler). In order to test for differences in information retention and possible learning between the two displays, a forced-choice recognition task was used to compare between the two types of screens. To take into account individual differences, participants or their parents completed family literacy and technology use questionnaires, as well as were evaluated on literacy and vocabulary measures. Analyses included correlational analysis, descriptive statistics and multivariate analyses of variance. There was a main effect of age on performance overall. However, there were no significant differences between performance on the simpler and busy conditions for each age group. Lastly, literacy skill, vocabulary skill and technology use did not show significant relationships with performance on the letter learning task

Moderating Role of Attention Control in the Relationship Between Academic Distraction and Performance

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of social media engagement, which includes frequency of using social media platforms (FSMP) and social media involvement, on the academic distraction and academic performance of the student. The study further tests the moderating role of attention control on the relationship between academic distraction and academic performance. Method: Data were collected from 272 students studying in universities in India. Students answered questions on the frequency of visiting social media platforms and social media involvement, components of academic distraction, and attention control. AMOS software was used to test the structural model. Results: FSMP does not contribute to academic distraction; however, consistent social media involvement does predict academic distraction. Unlike previous studies, academic distraction does not influence the academic performance of students born in the digital era, who have accessed social media throughout their childhood. Attention control moderates the relationship between academic distraction and academic performance. Conclusions: The study challenges past research that claims social media engagement has a negative effect on student academic performance. Social media involvement, such as texting, commenting, and sharing updates, causes academic distraction but may not affect student academic performance. A novel finding is that the strength and direction of the relationship between academic distraction on academic performance vary with attention control. Implication for Theory and/or Practice: The study can be useful for educators and policy makers to build strategies for developing digital citizenship behaviours among students and thereby leverage social media for improved academic achievements of students. In particular, the potential moderating role of attention control in the interaction between academic distraction and academic performance has implications for educators and researchers

Why Your Academic Library Needs a Popular Reading Collection Now More Than Ever

Do popular reading materials belong in college and university libraries? Although some librarians think not, others believe there are compelling reasons for including them. The trend towards user-focused libraries, the importance of attracting patrons to libraries in the age of the Internet, and, most importantly, the need to promote literacy at a time when it has reached its lowest levels are all reasons why academic librarians are reconsidering their ideas about popular reading materials. Librarians who decide to implement a leisure reading collection should consider a number of key issues

Multitasking in the University Classroom

Although research evidence indicates that multitasking results in poorer learning and poorer performance, many students engage with text messaging, Facebook, internet searching, emailing, and instant messaging, while sitting in university classrooms. Research also suggests that multitasking may be related to risk behaviors. This study\u27s purpose was to describe the multitasking behaviors occurring in university classrooms and to determine relationships between multitasking and risk behaviors. Surveys assessing multitasking, grades, and risk behaviors were completed by 774 students. Results show that the majority of students engage in classroom multitasking, which is significantly related to lower GPA and an increase in risk behaviors

Multitasking in the University Classroom

Although research evidence indicates that multitasking results in poorer learning and poorer performance, many students engage with text messaging, Facebook, internet searching, emailing, and instant messaging, while sitting in university classrooms. Research also suggests that multitasking may be related to risk behaviors. This study’s purpose was to describe the multitasking behaviors occurring in university classrooms and to determine relationships between multitasking and risk behaviors. Surveys assessing multitasking, grades, and risk behaviors were completed by 774 students. Results show that the majority of students engage in classroom multitasking, which is significantly related to lower GPA and an increase in risk behaviors

CYBERSLACKING : A LITERATURE REVIEW OF NON-ACADEMIC MEDIA MULTITASKING OF UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

AbstractUniversity students use internet in daily life ranging from learning, socializing and recreation purposes. Cyberslacking in the campus relates to the topic of non-academic media multitasking among university students. Media multitasking defines as connecting to more than one media simultaneously and cyberslacking is activities with media multitasking in the context of non-academic internet access during lectures. This present study will review some researches on cyberslacking and non-academic media multitasking in the context of university students. The review findings conclude that cyberslacking is also media multitasking in the context of non-academic internet access during lectures. Media multitasking could be distinguished between learning related activities and unlearning related activities and cyberslacking is regarded as unlearning related activities. Students who do cyberslacking mostly engage in social networking sites during media multitasking behaviors. Some studies discuss the impact of cyberslacking and non-media multitasking to academic performance. Other studies also mentioned about self regulation and self efficacy as important variables that relate to cyberslacking and non-academic media multitasking. Further researches on cyberslacking should be considered building theoretical model of cyberslacking in the educational setting as well as the development of measurement tools for academic cyberslacking behaviors. Keywords : cyberslacking, non-academic media multitasking, university students