The DOI matches its Crossref record; 8 of the 8 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
The “Myth” of Media Multitasking: Reciprocal Dynamics of Media Multitasking, Personal Needs, and Gratifications
Abstract
The increasing popularity of media multitasking is frequently reported in national surveys while laboratory research consistently confirms that multitasking impairs task performance. This study explores this apparent contradiction. Using dynamic panel analysis of time series data collected from college students across 4 weeks, this study examines dynamic reciprocal impacts of media multitasking, needs (emotional, cognitive, social, and habitual), and corresponding gratifications. Consistent with the laboratory research, cognitive needs are not satisfied by media multitasking even though they drive media multitasking in the first place. Instead, emotional gratifications are obtained despite not being actively sought. This helps explain why people increasingly multitask at the cost of cognitive needs. Importantly, this study provides evidence of the dynamic persistence of media multitasking behavior.
Overview
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Citations
Cites
Initial conditions and moment restrictions in dynamic panel data models
Blundell, R., & Bond, S. (1998) · Journal of Econometrics · doi:10.1016/s0304-4076(98)00009-8 · Cited by 22,571
Another look at the instrumental variable estimation of error-components models
Arellano, M., & Bover, O. (1995) · Journal of Econometrics · doi:10.1016/0304-4076(94)01642-d · Cited by 19,880
An Introduction to the Five‐Factor Model and Its Applications
McCrae, R. R., & John, O. P. (1992) · Journal of Personality · doi:10.1111/j.1467-6494.1992.tb00970.x · Cited by 6,835
Uses and Gratifications Research
Katz, E., Blumler, J. G., & Gurevitch, M. (1973) · Public Opinion Quarterly · doi:10.1086/268109 · Cited by 4,012
Uses and Gratifications Theory in the 21st Century
Ruggiero, T. E. (2000) · Mass Communication and Society · doi:10.1207/s15327825mcs0301_02 · Cited by 2,810 · cited 2×
“Because this study focuses on general needs that are relevant across all kinds of media uses and activities, we synthesized commonly used needs from previous typologies (e.g., Katz, Haas, & Gurevitch, 1973; Palmgreen, 1984; Ruggiero, 2000) into four basic categories: emotional, cognitive, social, and habitual.”
MethodOn the Use of the Mass Media for Important Things
Katz, E., Haas, H., & Gurevitch, M. (1973) · American Sociological Review · doi:10.2307/2094393 · Cited by 1,639 · cited 1×
“Needs are “the combined product of psychological dispositions, sociological factors, and environmental conditions” (Katz et al., 1973, pp. 516-517) that motivate media consumption or exposure.”
BackgroundSlater, M. D. (2007) · Communication Theory · doi:10.1111/j.1468-2885.2007.00296.x · Cited by 1,064
Can students really multitask? An experimental study of instant messaging while reading
Bowman, L. L., Levine, L. E., Waite, B. M., & Gendron, M. (2010) · Computers & Education · doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2009.09.024 · Cited by 411
Cited by
Facebook and texting made me do it: Media-induced task-switching while studying
Rosen, L. D., Mark Carrier, L., & Cheever, N. A. (2013) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2012.12.001 · Cited by 875
The Media and Technology Usage and Attitudes Scale: An empirical investigation
Rosen, L. D., Whaling, K., Carrier, L. M., Cheever, N. A., & Rokkum, J. (2013) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2013.06.006 · Cited by 788
Wilmer, H. H., Sherman, L. E., & Chein, J. M. (2017) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00605 · Cited by 736
Misra (2016) · doi:10.1177/0013916514539755 · Cited by 430
Gao, Q., & Feng, C. (2016) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2016.06.022 · Cited by 219
Yeykelis, L., Cummings, J. J., & Reeves, B. (2014) · Journal of Communication · doi:10.1111/jcom.12070 · Cited by 216
The association between media multitasking, task-switching, and dual-task performance.
Alzahabi, R., & Becker, M. W. (2013) · Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance · doi:10.1037/a0031208 · Cited by 206
What else do college students “do” while studying? An investigation of multitasking
Calderwood, C., Ackerman, P. L., & Conklin, E. M. (2014) · Computers & Education · doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2014.02.004 · Cited by 201
Media multitasking and failures of attention in everyday life
Ralph, B. C. W., Thomson, D. R., Cheyne, J. A., & Smilek, D. (2014) · Psychological Research · doi:10.1007/s00426-013-0523-7 · Cited by 194
Mobile phone distraction while studying
David, P., Kim, J.-H., Brickman, J. S., Ran, W., & Curtis, C. M. (2015) · New Media & Society · doi:10.1177/1461444814531692 · Cited by 199
Growing up multitasking: The costs and benefits for cognitive development
Courage, M. L., Bakhtiar, A., Fitzpatrick, C., Kenny, S., & Brandeau, K. (2015) · Developmental Review · doi:10.1016/j.dr.2014.12.002 · Cited by 159
Bae, M. (2018) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2017.10.026 · Cited by 157
Media Multitasking Effects on Cognitive vs. Attitudinal Outcomes: A Meta-Analysis
Jeong, S.-H., & Hwang, Y. (2016) · Human Communication Research · doi:10.1111/hcre.12089 · Cited by 154
Age Differences in Media Multitasking: A Diary Study
Voorveld, H. A. M., & van der Goot, M. (2013) · Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media · doi:10.1080/08838151.2013.816709 · Cited by 144
Lee (2015) · doi:10.1177/0021934714557034 · Cited by 111
Multitasking in the University Classroom
Burak, L. (2012) · International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning · doi:10.20429/ijsotl.2012.060208 · Cited by 110
Baumgartner, S. E., van der Schuur, W. A., Lemmens, J. S., & te Poel, F. (2018) · Human Communication Research · doi:10.1093/hcre.12111 · Cited by 91
Gottfried, J. A., Hardy, B. W., Holbert, R. L., Winneg, K. M., & Jamieson, K. H. (2017) · Political Communication · doi:10.1080/10584609.2016.1154120 · Cited by 73
Clayson, D. E., & Haley, D. A. (2013) · Journal of Marketing Education · doi:10.1177/0273475312467339 · Cited by 68
Media multitasking and sleep problems: A longitudinal study among adolescents
van der Schuur, W. A., Baumgartner, S. E., Sumter, S. R., & Valkenburg, P. M. (2018) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2017.12.024 · Cited by 62
Permanently Online—Always Stressed Out? The Effects of Permanent Connectedness on Stress Experiences
Freytag, A., Knop-Huelss, K., Meier, A., Reinecke, L., Hefner, D., Klimmt, C., & Vorderer, P. (2021) · Human Communication Research · doi:10.1093/hcr/hqaa014 · Cited by 63
Seo, M., Kim, J.-H., & David, P. (2015) · Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication · doi:10.1111/jcc4.12140 · Cited by 62
Media Multitasking: A Bibliometric Approach and Literature Review
Beuckels, E., Ye, G., Hudders, L., & Cauberghe, V. (2021) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.623643 · Cited by 56
Terry, C. A., Mishra, P., & Roseth, C. J. (2016) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2016.08.009 · Cited by 53
Gilbert, A., Baumgartner, S. E., & Reinecke, L. (2023) · Mobile Media & Communication · doi:10.1177/20501579221138017 · Cited by 33
Forecasting errors in student media multitasking during homework completion
Calderwood, C., Green, J. D., Joy-Gaba, J. A., & Moloney, J. M. (2016) · Computers & Education · doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2015.10.021 · Cited by 22
A Theory of Media Multitasking Intensity
Zamanzadeh, N. N., & Rice, R. E. (2021) · Journal of Media Psychology · doi:10.1027/1864-1105/a000316 · Cited by 16
Aitken, A., Jounghani, A. R., Carbonell, L. M., Tadeo, D., Kumar, A., Crawford, S., Bowden, A. K., & Hosseini, S. M. H. (2025) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-025-20844-7 · Cited by 24
“First, a decline in EF may impair individuals’ ability to plan, focus, and make effective decisions, with downstream effects on mental well-being 40 .”
Huang, Y.-T., & Gong, A.-D. (2024) · Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research · doi:10.3390/jtaer19030082 · Cited by 6
Metadata
- Authors
- Wang, Z., & Tchernev, J. M.
- Venue
- Journal of Communication
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2012-04-25
- Volume
- 62
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 493-513
- ISSN
- 0021-9916 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2050870248
- Cited by
- 372
- References
- 8
- FWCI
- 49.32
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
Data sources
Bibliographic data: Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, Crossref.
Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).
Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.
