Media multitasking

[1] A 2018 review found that while the literature is sparse and inconclusive, people who do a heavy amount of media multitasking have worse performance in several cognitive domains.

For example, a user may be browsing the Web, listening to music, playing video games, using e-mail, and/or talking on the phone while watching TV.

These researchers warned that when people attempt to multitask, especially when doing complex and potentially dangerous tasks (such as driving and using their cell phones to talk or text), they will always encounter the cognitive bottleneck, causing their performance to suffer in terms of speed or accuracy.

[11] A related article, "Breadth-biased versus focused cognitive control in media multitasking behaviors," notes that the prevalence of this phenomenon leads "to a question about the required skills and expertise to function in society.

Long-term exposure to media multitasking is expected to produce both positive and negative outcomes on cognitive, emotional, and social development.

[13][14] Multitasking behavior in the workforce has been increasing steadily since the 1990s as people have easier, and therefore faster, access to information and communication through smart technologies that have become cheaper over time.

There is an overwhelming amount of evidence to show that talking on a phone while driving is very dangerous, often leading to crashes, including those fatal to both drivers and pedestrians.

Also, media multitasking while driving with other technologies, including MP3 players, voice-based email, a car's music system, and even the GPS, is just as distracting as using a phone.

[22] Students commonly use multiple portable digital technologies, including laptops, tablets and smartphones with wireless access to the Internet.

[35] A large portion of students use digital technologies for off-task purposes during classroom lectures, with social networking (especially Facebook), instant messaging, texting, emailing, and web-browsing being used most commonly.

[38][39][40] One experimental study compared the impact of using 4 different technologies for off-task purposes including MSN, email, texting, and Facebook, to three control groups during real classroom lectures.

The results showed that students in the MSN and Facebook conditions scored lower on a memory test than the paper notes control group.

Specifically, social networking is particularly bad for student performance as it leads to higher levels of unfinished assignments and lower GPAs.