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