How does media multitasking affect the mind?

cheryl

cheryl

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How does media multitasking affect the mind? - Stanford

Imagine that you’re working on your computer, watching the Warriors game, exchanging texts and checking Facebook. Sound familiar? Many people simultaneously view multiple media streams every day.

Over the past decade, researchers have been studying the relationship between this type of heavy media multitasking and cognition to determine how our media use is shaping our minds and brains. This is a particularly critical question for teenagers, who use technology for almost 9 hours every day on average, not including school-related use.

Many studies have examined the cognitive performance in young adults using a variety of task-based tests — comparing the performance of heavy and light multitaskers. According to a recent review article, these studies show that heavy multitaskers perform significantly worse, particularly when the tasks require sustained, goal-oriented attention.
 
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