Efficient, helpful, or distracting? A literature review of media multitasking in relation to academic performance

• Published in: International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education Vol. 15; no. 1; pp. 1 - 17
• Main Authors: May, Kaitlyn E., Elder, Anastasia D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 27.02.2018; Springer Nature B.V; SpringerOpen
• Subjects: Academic achievement; Academic performance; Adolescents; Adults; Cognition; Cognition & reasoning; College students; Computer Appl. in Social and Behavioral Sciences; Computer Science; Computers and Education; Digital media; Educational Technology; Grade Point Average; Higher Education; Humanities; Information Systems Applications (incl.Internet); Law; Literature reviews; Media; Media multitasking; Multitasking; Reading Comprehension; Review Article; Statistics for Social Sciences; Students; Multitasking; Cognition; Media multitasking; Academic performance
• ISSN: 2365-9440; 2365-9440
• DOI: 10.1186/s41239-018-0096-z

Media multitasking, using two or more medias concurrently, prevails among adolescents and emerging adults. The inherent mental habits of media multitasking—dividing attention, switching attention, and maintaining multiple trains of thought— have significant implications and consequences for students’ academic performance. The goal of this review is to synthesize research on the impacts of media multitasking on academic performance. The research indicates that media multitasking interferes with attention and working memory, negatively affecting GPA, test performance, recall, reading comprehension, note-taking, self-regulation, and efficiency. These effects have been demonstrated during in- class activities (largely lectures) and while students are studying. In addition, students struggle to accurately assess the impact media multitasking will have on their academic performance. Further research should attend to understanding effects of media multitasking in more diverse instructional contexts and for varied academic tasks. Fostering students’ self-regulation around media multitasking is a promising area for future efforts towards improving academic performance of college students.