MediaMul)tasking:Costs&BenefitsPatricia
GreenfieldDeptofPsychology
UCLA
GoldieSalimkhan,2009
PresentedatMediaMul)taskingSeminar,StanfordUniversity,July15,2009
IntrotoMediaMul)tasking
• Background• Learningmul)taskingskills• Benefits• Costs– Cogni)ve– Social
Background
P.M.Greenfield,MindandMedia:TheEffectsofTelevision,VideoGames,andComputers(HarvardUniversityPress,1984)
Background
• Lauren’sCrossroadspic
LaurenGreenfield
CrossroadsSchoolGradua)on,SantaMonica,CA,1992
Learning:Technology’seffectsinenhancingskillsfordividingvisualaUen)on
Anexperimentshowedthatvideogameexper)seenhancedcollegestudents’strategiesfordividingaUen)oninanaUen)onalmonitoringtaskthatrequiredvisualaUen)ontotwoloca)onsonascreen(Greenfield,Dewinstanley,&Kaye,1994)
Thesamebasicpointwasmadeagainin2003byGreen&Bavelier.Thegameshadbecomemoresophis)catedandexposurewasevenearlier:theeffectswerecorrespondinglystronger.
MaUDyehasnowdonesimilarexperimentswithchildren,whichIthinkwewillseeinaposteratnoon.
Learning:Almost-Real-WorldTransfer
• Kearney(2005):Playing2hoursofashoo)nggame,Counterstrike,improvedperformanceinasimulatedmul)taskworkenvironment(calledSynWorki);itcomprised4simultaneoustasksthatareusefulinthemilitaryjobofstandingguard).
• Remainingques)on:CouldeachtaskhavebeendonebeUerifdonealone?
Benefits
• Cankeepmanyballsintheair• Canmonitormanyloca)ons
Costs• COGNITIVE• Candistractfrommainmessage(Bergenetal.)• Candistractfromsociallyimportanttasks(Gross,2004)• Candecreasereflec)onormetacogni)onasitshifsneuralac)vitytoareasthatdealwithmorehabitualprocessing,ratherthanmetacogni)on(Foerdeetal.
• Cancausesitua)onallybasedADD(irritability,decliningproduc)vity,disorganiza)on)(Hallowell,2005,asreportedbyWallis,2006)
• SOCIAL• Decreasesfamilyinterac)on,createsgenera)onalboundaries,underminesfamilyritualsandsharedcommunica)on,andmagnifiesimportanceofpeergroup
Exampleofwithin-mediummul)tasking:thenewscrawl
Cogni)vecost:Distrac)ngfrommainmessage
Bergenetal.,2005
(Gross,2004)
Cogni)veCost:Distrac)ngfromschoolwork
Cogni)vecost:Distrac)ngfromschoolwork
Whatmediumcancounteractthecogni)veweaknessesofmediamul)tasking? Reading!
Reflec)on-Kagan(1965):From1stgradeon,beUerreadersmorereflec)veCri)calthinking–Terenzinietal.(1995):Amountofout-of-classreadingdoneincollegeyearsisasta)s)callysignificantpredictorofcri)calthinkingskills.
SocialCosts
• SloanCenter,UCLA,AnthropologistElinorOchs-intense(4-yr)videostudyof30families-studyofmodernfamilylife
• Videoethnography.About50hoursperfamily• ReportedbyClaudiaWallis:• Whenworkingspouse(usuallyfather)comesthroughthe
door,theotherspouseandchildrenaresoabsorbedinwhattheyaredoing,theygreethimonlyaboutone-thirdofthe)me,usuallywithperfunctory“hi”;abouthalfthe)me,childrenignoredhimordidnotstopwhattheyweredoing,mul)taskingandmonitoringtheirvariouselectronicgadgets.Parentshadahard)mepenetra)ngtheirchildren’sworldandofenretreated.
DECLINEOFFACETOFACEFAMILYINTERACTION,INCREASEININTERACTINGWITHTECHNOLOGY,
INCLUDINGELECTRONICALLYMEDIATED
• Glimpseofonefamilyonenightat9:30p.m.–Boy,age14,inbedroom,wherehasbeenloggedintoMySpacechatroomandAOLInstantMessengerforpast3hours.Hasmul)plewindowsopen,includingItunes,GoogleimagesandseveralIMwindows.– Twinsister,inlivingroomusingdad’siMactoIMwhilechapngonhercellphoneanddoinghomework.
• Thistypeofelectronicmul)taskingwasamajorchangefromasimilarstudyof20yearsago.
• (E.Ochs,reportedbyClaudiaWallis,2006)
Mul)taskingwiththeCellPhone:EffectsontheFamily
• Ling&YUristudyinNorway• Focusgroupsheldin1999:40teenagers,2019-23yearolds,and20parents–Eachdemographichadowngroups,10groupsinall
• Establishesgenera)onalboundaries:EXAMPLE• Underminesfamilyritualsinfavorofpeercommunica)on:ELABORATION• Individualizesmediatedcommunica)on:EXAMPLE
TheEnd!
GoldieSalimkhan,2009