CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 53Personal Information Management and User BehaviorImpact of Technology on AdolescentsMedia Influence and Health

A null relationship between media multitasking and well-being

Open access
Shih, Shui-I·2013·PLoS ONE
DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0064508PMC PMC3655149
Open this paper in CoChat — free accountOpen PDF

Abstract

There is a rapidly increasing trend in media-media multitasking or MMM (using two or more media concurrently). In a recent conference, scholars from diverse disciplines expressed concerns that indulgence in MMM may compromise well-being and/or cognitive abilities. However, research on MMM's impacts is too sparse to inform the general public and policy makers whether MMM should be encouraged, managed, or minimized. The primary purpose of the present study was to develop an innovative computerized instrument--the Survey of the Previous Day (SPD)--to quantify MMM as well as media-nonmedia and nonmedia-nonmedia multitasking and sole-tasking. The secondary purpose was to examine whether these indices could predict a sample of well-being related, psychosocial measures. In the SPD, participants first recalled (typed) what they did during each hour of the previous day. In later parts of the SPD, participants analysed activities and their timing and duration for each hour of the previous day, while relevant recall was on display. Participants also completed the Media Use Questionnaire. The results showed non-significant relationship between tasking measures and well-being related measures. Given how little is known about the associations between MMM and well-being, the null results may offer some general reassurance to those who are apprehensive about negative impacts of MMM.

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.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1371/journal.pone.0064508

Cites

26 of 26 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

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.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • The mediating effect found in this study could explain why some studies have found that media multitasking has no implications for mental health.

    “The mediating effect found in this study could explain why some studies have found that media multitasking has no implications for mental health (50).”

    From Media multitasking, depression, and anxiety of college students: Serial mediating effects of attention control and negative information attentional bias (2022) · cites this paper as [50]

    The Discussion (page unavailable) reports no significant association between media multitasking and well-being or emotional positivity in the study sample. That supports a null finding on mental-health-related measures, but not the broader assertion that media multitasking has no implications for mental health. (LLM, conf=0.82)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Both studies on social functioning found no relationship between media multitasking and social functioning.

    “By contrast, both studies on social functioning found no relationship between media multitasking and social functioning (Pea et al., 2012;Shih, 2013).”

    From The consequences of media multitasking for youth: A review (2015) · cites this paper as Shih, 2013

  • One study found that media multitasking was unrelated to positive aspects of emotional functioning (emotional positivity and well-being).

    “Although one study found that media multitasking was unrelated to positive aspects of emotional functioning (i.e., emotional positivity and well-being, Shih, 2013),”

    From The consequences of media multitasking for youth: A review (2015) · cites this paper as Shih, 2013

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 3

  1. [6]Greenfield P (2010) Social networking, mental health and human development. Paper presented at the Lab School of Washington’s 15th Annual Scientific Research Conference, October 22, Washington, DC.
  2. [8]The Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop (2010) Media multitasking memos. Available: http://multitasking.stanford.edu/memos/AllMemos_July23.zip. Accessed 2013 April 17.
  3. [27]Chung CK, Pennebaker JW (2007) The psychological function of function words. In K. Fieldler (Ed.), Social communication: Frontiers of social psycholog. New York: Psychology Press. 343–59.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Shih, S.-I.
Affiliations
University of Southampton (GB)
Corresponding author
Shih, Shui-I
Venue
PLoS ONE
Publisher
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Published
2013-05-15
Volume
8
Issue
5
Pages
e64508
ISSN
1932-6203 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1371/journal.pone.0064508
PMC
PMC3655149
OpenAlex
W2008839946
Cited by
53
References
26
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 7 · 2014: 2 · 2013: 1
FWCI
10.23
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • PLoS ONE (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • ePrints Soton (University of Southampton) (acceptedVersion)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Information Systems and Management › Personal Information Management and User Behavior
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Impact of Technology on Adolescents
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Literature and Literary Theory › Media Influence and Health
Keywords
media multitasking, well-being, media use, psychosocial outcomes
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Adult, Humans, Mass Media, Quality of Life, Surveys and Questionnaires, Young Adult

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