Change Management Online Multitasking Perhaps

Change Management

Online Multitasking

Perhaps the very best question that you can memorize and repeat, over and over, is, what is the most valuable use of my time right now?'" - Brian Tracy, Motivational Coach and Author (Tracy, N.d.)

Eons of Multitasking

College students, as well as, businessmen/women, and parents, particularly moms, practiced multitasking eons before the Internet came into their lives and individuals attempt to realize more from their valuable time. One study, the Internet Goes to College, by Pew Internet Projects (Jones, 2002), suggests that the multitasking behavior students currently present online is not a new technique, but rather a supplementary method to reproduce types of multiple interactions students previously performed offline. Researchers report that currently, a number of college students use multiple programs at once, e.g., logging in to an instant messaging program while they worked on papers, and browsing Web pages while completing a class assignment. The study by Jones (2002) Students' use of such tools as IM clients and email as new media reproduces social interactions students previous experienced. The rapid spread of wireless access on and off college campuses is expected to contribute to an increase in multitasking as students and other individuals are able to utilize email, IM and other Internet tools any time; anyplace, on and/or off campus.

Although media multitasking among younger generations currently nets popularity, human communication research and cognitive psychology contend that in regard to simultaneous multitask processing: humans possess relatively poor simultaneous processing skills. These skills, noted to be finite and rather inflexible, prove to consequently be limited in how and where a person may effectively apply them. When an indivdiaul receives a number of varying messages via different information channels, such as through visual and auditory channel, Cocchini et. al. (2002) stresses, the simultaneous multitask processing presents a more difficult than "normal" challenge for the person. The concept of attending to something, Posner (1999, 2000) notes, is anchored in a hierarchical selection process, not in some notion of parallelism. In addition, a myriad of dual attention studies in mass communication strongly suggest viewers' attention tolerance for multiple information inputs ranks much lower than efforts mandated to effectively perform tasks. (e.g., Grimes, 1991; Lang 1995, 2000) the convergence of information processing and communications technologies, plainly projected by the Internet, reflects one primary change affecting individuals, organizations, and societies during recent years. As various forms of new communication mechanism emerged, a number of these strongly impact human interactions. The rapid growth of digital technology, particularly with the computer as not only an information processing machine, but also as the communication medium constitutes a contemporary multimedia station. As the computer can currently perform numerous functions, also served by other traditional medium, including, but not limited to, radio, telephone, CD/DVD player, and TV, a person can increasingly use information resources and perform technology-supported tasks with a diverse set of tools through the computer. In addition, devices with customizable interfaces, often mobile, may be utilized online in a variety of contexts. Contemporary developments such as these mandate that individuals learn more about the relationships between an individual's characteristics of individuals and technology's ever increasing features. Ensuring a "good fit" between technology and individual preferences potentially proffers numerous benefits, including improved productivity because of a better focus on the actual task and fewer distractions evolving from a mismatch between technology and the user. As new technology enables an individual to customize the tools he/she uses, it becomes vital users understand as much as possible about the interaction between individual characteristics and technology.

Generation Y and Multitasking the young Americans, aged between 18 and 25, maintain a myriad labels, including "Generation Y" or "Generation Next." These individuals constitute the cohort of young adults who, growing up with personal computers, cell phones and the internet, now claim their place in a world where some contend constant, rapid changes constitute the primary constant in their world. (Pew Research Center, 2007) Along with constant changes, albeit, one more reality this generation realizes is that they qualify as the most avid multitaskers in both online and offline activities. Studies focusing on media multitasking emerging recently, include two Middletown Media Studies (Papper, Holmes, and Popovich, 2004; Papper, Holmes, Popovich, and Bloxham, 2005), Kaiser Family Foundation Studies on American Youth Media Exposure (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2005), and numerous Pew Internet & American Life Project Studies. Middletown Media Studies found it appears much more extensive simultaneous multiple media use exists than may be realized. In this expansive realm of multiple media use, individuals frequently use some types of media more frequently, in conjunction with other forms. Instant messaging, for example, along with telephone and/or newspaper often occurs along with other media forms. When Kaiser Family Foundation examined the full pattern of media use among a representative sample of U.S. youth, their study revealed U.S. youngsters are immersed in media. In 1999, the average youth devoted 6.75 hours to media; with simultaneous use of multiple media (i.e., media multitasking) increasing exposure to 8 hours of daily media messages. Studies five years later, report that in the U.S., 8- to 18-year-olds reportedly spend in excess of eight and a half hours daily, exposed to recreational media content.

However, as many youth frequently utilize two or more media simultaneously, it appears they engage in media multitasking during at least one fourth of their media exposure time. Even though, overall media exposure time increased from 1999 to 2004 by more than an hour, albeit, media use only increased two minutes. In other words, as media exposure increased, the proportion of time devoted to media multitasking also increased, to the extent the actual amount of time devoted to media use remained constant. (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2005)

Theoretical Issues and Literature Review

As noted at this study's start, contrary to the popularity of media multitasking among younger generations, human communication research and cognitive psychology clearly contend that humans do not possess strong simultaneous processing skills and components of skills readily limit in and where and these sills may be applied.

Kahneman (1973) argues that when auditory and visual channels complement one another, they create a "superordinate [semantic] structure" which basically constitutes a semantic blend of message channels, which blend as an intact semantic unit, due to the viewer's perceptions. The less they semantically complement one another, however, the less successful they become in building this superordinate structure, with more attentional effort then required to selectively allot priority to the components to later, be processed further. Kahneman's basic findings are supported by more recent, and methodologically sophisticated investigations of this phenomenon. (e.g., Posner, 1999) Although many aspects of the networked life remain scientifically uncharted, substantial literature relates how the brain handles multitasking. Basically, the process involves rapid toggling among tasks, not simultaneous processing. A user does not actually do more than one thing, but orders tasks and decides which one to work on at a particular time. According to a functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) study Grafman's team (Knutson, Wood, & Grafman, 2004) completed, (Knutson, Wood, & Grafman, 2004), the switching of attention from one task to another occurs in Brodmann's Area 10, a region directly behind the forehead, in the brain's anterior prefrontal cortex. Brodmann's Area 10, part of the frontal lobes, is vital for maintaining long-term goals and achieving them. The most anterior part allows one to leave something when it is incomplete and return to the same place and continue from there. This gives individuals a "form of multitasking t," even though what is done is actually sequential processing. Because the prefrontal cortex constitutes one of the last regions of the brain to mature and one of the first to decline with aging, young children do not multitask well. Neither do most adults over 60. The limited capacity theory of information processing provides another perspective to studying media multitasking, Lang (1995) notes. Variables within the theory consist of the medium, the content of the message, and the goal of the message. Different media, contents, and goals reportedly lead to viewers' various patterns of motivational and cognitive responses. The individual differences of the media user or viewer interacts with the messages' structure and content determine much about how he/she processes a message during multitasking. This includes which parts of the messages he/she will attend to, encode, and store, as well as how he/she will evaluate and link the message. Individuals reportedly possess limited capacity information processors, Basil, 1994; Schneider, Dumais, and Shiffrin (1984), along with Shiffrin and Schneider (1977) purport. They also only have a limited number of cognitive resources they can apply to tasks of perceiving, encoding, understanding, and remembering in their world. When insufficient resources are available for attempted tasks, in turn, an individual's processing suffers. The two underlying systems motivating individuals, the appetitive (or approach) system and the aversive (or avoidance) system (Bradley, 1994; Cacioppo and Gardner, 1999; Lang, Bradley, and Cuthbert, 1997) automatically activate in response to motivationally relevant stimuli in the individual's environment and influence his/her ongoing cognitive processing. As the media consists of variably redundant streams of information, the viewer or users perceives this information through multiple sensory channels (eyes, ears, touch) and formats (words, text, still pictures, moving pictures, etc.).

Over time, from one second to the next, human behavior constantly changes, contributing to the fact that human behavior, consequently human cognition, constitutes a dynamic process. (Thelen and Smith, 1994). Communication, also a continuous interactive process, serves as the overtime interaction between the human motivated information processing system and the communication message. (Geiger and Reeves, 1993; Lang, 2000; Rafaeli, 1988)

Media multitasking indicates a user will simultaneously experience exposure to content from various media. As an individual possesses only a limited number of cognitive resources, he/she will not be able to process information at the same level of efficiency as media single use. As a result, the continuing, shifting attention results in less effective retrieval of information, as well as, experiencing challenges retrieving, encoding and storing information.

Statement of Problem

Despite contradictory indications from communication and cognitive psychology, younger adults' fill their lives with multitasking around media, as well as, numerous other activities. Some young media users, in fact, prefer media multitasking over completing single tasks and a number reportedly believe that when they toggle among tasks, they save time and become more efficient and productive. No study conducted to date, however, to this researcher's knowledge, addresses the problem regarding preference for media multitasking and the perceived effectiveness of such performance. Results of this proposed study, for the first time, will provide valuable insights in this area, as well as, establish a "starting line" for further research. This proposed study aims to utilize the cognitive psychology theory, along with the limited capacity theory to explore the information processing mechanism of multitasking behaviors and examine the effectiveness of these two theories as this researcher contends that rapid advances in digital technology and increased media multitasking and its impact on communication need to be further examined. Complex and interconnected multimedia style and convergence via simultaneous media use creates a new style of communication and a new form of expression requiring amplified levels of understanding. Fragmented media environment in which forms of media vie for people's attention is integrated into people's lives as they multitask, taking in several media streams at the same time. Media use experience needs to be studied as an integration of simultaneous streams, synergized by attention.

One is not exposed to media, but attends to it with a shifting span of attention and focus. Real nonlinear and selective multitasking perceptions are based on significance within the foreground-background attention and scheme of experience. The influence a multiple media environment may exert on information processing and communication clearly depends upon the degree of attention the user invests in it, as well as the context in which it is used. Under multitasking conditions, the influence of multiple media environment on communication and task performance is more difficult to measure than the amount of time a device is in use. Even though they may be critical to understanding how the multiple media environment's powerful influence actually affects people, questions of attention, activities occuring in the vicinity of the media user, and new roles media multitasking may play in people's lives have not yet been broadly studied by communication researchers. An increasing consensus exists regarding an urgent need to develop approaches to measurement which more adequately captures media use in this new era of digital technology.

On a practical level, the field lacks baseline information relating numerous fundamental multitasking processes that may include information retrieval patterns, attention, memory, and ways media multitasking may affect human communication. Therefore, the goal of this proposed study is to ignite the exploration of the effect of multiple media use on task performance and communication by comparing differences between self and partner impressions on both media multitasking performance and communication experiences under media multitasking conditions.

Objectives

Based on communication and cognitive psychology studies, this researcher projects that in contrast to the common preference for multitasking among younger generation while using media, research will reveal a negative correlation exists between performance and the multitasking status.

In another words, the more tasks an individual simultaneously attempts or engages in, the worse his/her performance will be.

In addition to preference for media multitasking, a person's personality, experience with multitasking, communication style, as well as, relations with the communication partner may also contribute to the influence to the task performance's effectiveness, Consequently, this study's designed proposes to:

Test the deterioration of task performance under multitasking conditions,

Compare self-perceived multitasking efficiency with receiver's evaluation and perception.

Search for potential connections between multitasking performance and factors such as personality trait, self-perceived attributes, multitasking preference, and multitasking experiences.

Compare perceived communication task performance under concentrated and distracted conditions.

Search for indicators for multitasking performance.

As various studies in different age groups reveal multitasking constitutes routine behavior for media users across the U.S., based on several theories examined in the proposed study's literature review section, this researcher proposes the following two hypotheses for this current study:

H1: When an individual multitasks online, then his/her performance under media multitasking condition will prove to be less effective compared to single task condition.

H2:

When an individual invests more attention to one task, then he/she obtains better performance evaluations.

Research questions contributing to determining the validity of this study's two hypotheses include, but envelop a myriad of other queries:

Does simultaneous multitask processing contribute to an individual being more productive?

Does multitasking, contrary to a common, contemporary contention, adversely affect an individual's productivity?

What impact does online multitasking exert upon an individual and his/her productivity?

Experiment Design

This study's pre-experiment evaluation of potential influential factors includes:

Prior to implementing the experiment for this study, prospective participants will be asked to answer a short questionnaire to relate individual personality traits, along with their media use and multitasking preferences.

Potential participants will also be asked about their familiarity to their partner (to be assigned during the study), as well as, their mood and interest in the study.

Multitasking Experiment

At the beginning of the experiment, after potential study participants complete the pre-experiment evaluation revealing potential influential factors, two participants will be randomly assigned as partners. One will designated as the primary subject, with the other participant, noted to be the partner. The primary or principal subject will be assigned two specific tasks to complete by the end of the session, scheduled for a particular time span. The two specific tasks include:

Develop an independent travel plan to Indonesia, and Solve a problem about allocation of pandemic flu vaccine with the partner through online communication.

Researchers will randomly inform the principal subject that one of the two assigned tasks constitutes his/her primary task. he/she is instructed that he/she should pay more attention to his/her primary task, yet complete the secondary task as well, within the experiment's designated time constraints.

The two students in each group will work in different rooms to ensure they cannot see each other during the experiment. During this time, the administrator, presenting him/herself as a travel agent, will interrupt the principal subject through online audio or text communications at 10 minute intervals. During the experiment, however, the partner of the duo team will only work on the vaccine distribution task. Neither the principal participant nor the partner will know they are simultaneously working on two different tasks in another room.

The subject and partner may freely communicate with each other throughout the experiment through online text messaging, with the limitation that the subject cannot tell his/her partner that other than the vaccine task, he/she is also working on another task) the subject and partner may introduce him/herself to the other individual and find out if he/she knows his/her partner.

Post-Experiment Performance Evaluations

Following the experiment's conclusion, each participant will complete a short evaluation form. The subject will be asked to evaluate how well he/she thinks he/she performed during the experiment and asked to relate the general impression of his/her partner during the experiment. The partner will judge the performance of his/her partner, as he/she also critiques perceptions of him/herself during the experiment. Ultimately, both parties will be asked about their interests relating to the experiment and whether they are familiar with their partner.

Participants

This researcher plans to recruit students from the undergraduate communication classes of ***name of place (PI) as participants for this study. In exchange for their time and efforts, participants will receive extra credit hours. Ages of participants will be limited to individuals 18 to 25 years old to ensure they belong to the Generation Y age group.

Measures:

Pre-experiment Questionnaire

Media use and multitasking preference: General media use pattern and preference for media multitasking will be solicited, using close-nded questions designed by PI and co-investigator.

Personality: This researcher plan to administer the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQR-a) (Francis, Brown, & Philipchalk, 1992) to determine participants' positions on the extraversion-introversion dimension.

Mood and familiarity: Using close-ended questions with 5 point scales, this researcher plans to ask participants to relate information about their current moods, interests in the study, along with, their familiarity with their partner

Detailed Pre-test question constructs and a questionnaire will be included in the appendix of the IRB application.

Experiment Activity Data

When students arrive at experiment location, they will be randomly assigned as the principal experiment subject or partner. After signing the consent form, each student will receive an experiment task sheet. Detailed information regarding the experiment tasks is included on enclosed task sheets with the application. All audio and textual communication activities occurring during the experiment will be saved via computer for later analysis.

Post-experiment questionnaire

Self performance evaluation: The principal subject will answer close ended questions designed by PI and co-investigator regarding self-perceived task performance during the experiment.

Partner performance evaluation: The partner will answer close-ended questions designed by PI and co-investigator regarding his/her judgment on the principal subject's performance during the experiment.

Detailed Post-test question constructs and questionnaire will be included in the appendix of IRB application.

Data Analysis Once the data have been obtained, completed questionnaires will be coded and all individuals' identifying information removed. Appropriate information will be entered into an SPSS data file for analysis. The data will be analyzed using descriptive and regressional analysis techniques. Correlation between factors will be analyzed and comparisons made between self performance evaluation and partner performance evaluation.

Limitations of the Study

As participants will be recruited from undergraduate students, the result may not be applied to other populations of the same age group. Due to the experimental setting of the study, results of this study may not be generalized to the whole population. Due to the computer's prominent position as a multimedia platform, this experiment only focuses on communication multitasking through computer. A further study employing a combination of other available communication devices and medium will reveal more insights to the problem. Media is playing an increasingly important role in human life from all perspectives and the time we spend on activities involving use of some type of media occupies a large part of our waking hours. Based on Census Bureau's annual Statistical Abstract of the United States, it is estimated that in 2007, Americans are going to spend more than 9.5 hours a day with the media (U.S. Census Bureau, 2006). Since hours spent on using more than one media simultaneously, such as watching TV and using the Internet, talking over the phone while listening to music, are counted twice, this number indicated the increasing frequency of media multitasking in everyday life. As new media, including cable, the Internet and mobile communication technologies, continue to routinely surface and expand, use of various types of electronic media has become seamlessly interwoven with other daily activities. In addition, the multiple functions served by new communication technologies, including the Internet and cell phone, enable individuals to routinely use more communication technologies in their lives. In turn, media multitasking has become a contemporary, prevalent phenomenon.

Multitasking, Per Se

Multitasking, a term indicative of doing, or trying to do, more than one thing at once, has become cemented into the lives of many individuals. Multitasking may be described as the ability to accomplish "multiple task goals in the same general time period by engaging in frequent switches between individual tasks." (Delbridge, 2000, p.1) From a cognitive modeling perspective, multitasking may be considered: "the ability to integrate, interleave, and perform multiple tasks and/or component subtasks of a larger complex task." (Salvucci, 2005)

Lee & Taatgen (2002) purport multitasking to be: "the ability to handle the demands of multiple tasks simultaneously." Pew & Mavor (1998) simply refer to multitasking as "doing several things at once." Multitasking, reportedly utilized for generations in an individual's workplace and at his/her home, occurs when people do chores while listening to music; eat when watching TV; talk over the telephone while writing notes. OK Southern I am a number of it is away what time to get a school fishing on is the scenarios

Recently, digital technology offers users the capability to use even more media simultaneously, a technological advance which gives rise to the phenomenon of "media multi-tasking." Media multitasking, a term that involves both use of media and multitasking, includes common examples people engage in daily, such as talking on the phone while searching information on the Internet, listening to the radio while reading a newspaper, and/or chatting with friend online while talking over the phone

In regard to hardware, a desktop or notebook computer now routinely runs multiple applications simultaneously, while a user can stream video to resident application programs. Other advances in digital technology, along with the increasing miniaturization of components, continue to change available consumer technology's landscape. Notebook computers double as audio and video players, while video game graphics increase in density and complexity.

Cell phones double as digital cameras, while new generations of MP3 players also play recently released video clips and movies. For this researcher's proposed study, single media use constitutes the use of only one medium doing one thing at one time. Media multitasking refers to exposure to two or more media, using the same medium, doing more than one thing at the same period of time. For use of media, media multitasking may involve using TV, the Web, radio, telephone, print, I-pod, or any other media in conjunction with another. It may also involve doing more than one things at the same time through one multimedia station, such as computer. Much of this kind of media multitasking is not inherently coupled or coordinated, except by the user. Media users are not passive information receivers, but active media seekers, who routinely choose what forms of media they prefer, as well as, when, and how often to use the media.

In the past, traditional distinctions among media were primarily based on the type of technology determining its mode of operation. Now, however, the rapid proliferation of new technologies extends the functions of electronic devices. Computers and handheld telecom devices contain multiple functions, traditionally only available through a television, a telephone or radio, etc..

In the past, it appeared to be easier to discern distinctive functions and formats of different media when people multitasked. Contemporary syndication of media functions in one device and the user's active task switching makes the distinctions more challenging. General computer use, albeit, needs to be categorized into varying functions it serves to enable a more accurate measurement of media use and multitasking. For this researcher's proposed study, a user will be defined as multitasking when different functions or content provided by the computer are used or attended to. This definition includes activities such as emailing, surfing the web, downloading, word processing, and instant messaging (IM).

Popularity of Multitasking in Younger Generation

Since their days in primary school, children today have become media "multitaskers" in numbers and ways unknown in previous generations of users as digital technology has gradually integrated into peoples' life. A generally popular, scholarly consensus today purports adolescents, in particular, have widely adopted the use of digital media for daily life activities. The Kaiser Family Foundation (2005) reports that between one-quarter and one-third of 7th to 12th graders report using multiple media "most of the time" Adolescents report less media-multi while watching television (24%) than while using the computer (33%), with 39% indicate that most of the time they use a computer, they engage in other media activities as well. (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2005)

Other studies indicate that college students and other older age groups also routinely engage in media multitasking. (e.g., the Middletown Media Studies, Generation M study, Pew Internet & American Life Project Studies).

The general perception purports that people prove more productive when they multitask, the primary issue this study examines. During the literature review section of this study, this researcher presents a more detailed review of recent studies on media multitasking.

Effectiveness of Multitasking

During media multitasking, the user determines media exposure, selects the media form(s) they will access and use. They also determine the amount of time they will spend on different tasks while multitasking and how much attention they will pay for each tasks for the duration of the process.

Importantly, while media multitasking, users can shift their focus from one medium to the other and then back in an instant. This ability to shift from one media form to another raises the question of whether each medium processed sequentially or in parallel (Bluedorn et al., 1992).

Brain Function during Multitasking

Although many aspects of the networked life remain scientifically uncharted, there's substantial literature on how the brain handles multitasking. And basically, it doesn't. It may seem that a teenage girl is writing an instant message, burning a CD and telling her mother that she's doing homework -- all at the same time -- but what's really going on is a rapid toggling among tasks rather than simultaneous processing. The switching of attention from one task to another, the toggling action, occurs in a region right behind the forehead called Brodmann's Area 10 in the brain's anterior prefrontal cortex, according to a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study by Grafman's team. Brodmann's Area 10 is part of the frontal lobes, which are important for maintaining long-term goals and achieving them. The most anterior part allows one to leave something when it is incomplete and return to the same place and continue from there. This gives us a form of multitasking though it is actually sequential processing. Because the prefrontal cortex is one of the last regions of the brain to mature and one of the first to decline with aging, young children do not multitask well, and neither do most adults over 60. Recent fMRI studies at Toronto's Rotman Research Institute suggest that as people get older, they have more trouble turning down background thoughts when turning to a new task. On the other hand, younger adults are better at tuning out distracting messages when they want to.

Multitasking Performance

While attempting to perform a number of tasks simultaneously, individuals have to juggle their limited resources to accomplish each tasks successfully. This juggling at times, proves challenging and sometimes lends to greater inefficiency in performing each individual task. For example, using a cellular telephone while driving can lead to both poor communication and poor driving. In the brain, multitasking is performed by mental executive processes that manage individual tasks and determine how, when, and with what priority, tasks are performed. Multitasking may prove to be difficult when a person tries to perform two tasks simultaneously, but problems can also occur when a person switches from performing one task to performing another.

Performing two or more tasks in rapid succession requires an individual to reorient to each new task, which itself takes time and other attention-related resources. Researchers from the Brain, Cognition and Action Laboratory at the University of Michigan studied this aspect of multitasking using a task-switching paradigm. In their task-switching experiments (Rubinstein et. al. 2001), participants either performed a single task throughout a trial block, or alternated between two tasks during the trial block. By comparing completion times of single-task and dual-task blocks, they measured the cost (in time) for the task-switching processes.

Conducting these experiments increased understanding of how aspects of the individual tasks (such as task difficulty and task familiarity) can affect these task-switching costs. The ability to multi-process reportedly possesses limits, even among young adults. When a person attempts to perform two or more related tasks either at the same time or alternating rapidly between them, errors increase. In addition, it requires more time, often double the time or more-- to complete jobs this way than if they were completed sequentially. As Meyer (date) frequently tests Generation M (define this) students in the lab, he finds no exception for the additional time constraints, despite the "mystique" some master multitaskers may display.

In addition to the brain requiring more time to multitask, it brain needs rest and recovery time to consolidate thoughts and memories. Teenagers who fill every quiet moment with a phone call or some kind of e-stimulation may not be getting the much needed reprieve. H abitual multitasking may condition their brain to an overexcited state, making it difficult to focus even when an individual wants to and/or needs to focus intently on something.

CHAPTER TWO

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK and LITERATURE REVIEW

Introduction dearth of literature exists on the performance of media multitasking and its impact on communication, which is one impetus for the proposed study. Meanwhile, studies focused on the phenomena of growing popularities of media multitasking behavior have been emerging in the past few years. In this section, the most relevant studies on media multitasking behaviors will be reviewed based on their methodology, objectives, and findings. Two Middletown studies about media multitasking behavior will be discussed first, then three studies based on Kaiser family foundation surveys will provide more detailed insights about media multitasking behavior among the younger generations. Two studies from Pew Internet & American Life Project Studies related to multitasking behaviors in college and multitasking pattern during instant messaging will be also be review due to their relevance to the proposed experiment subjects and the research topic.

Following reviews of survey studies on multitasking behavior, theoretical models and framework of the proposed study will be reviewed based on their connections to the proposed study. The limited capacity models and theory will be used as theoretical framework for the proposed study to explain multitasking performance based on the limitation of brain capacity when processing messages. Other potential predictors of multitasking performance such as attention, working memory, and personality will then be reviewed and their application to the proposed experiment design will be discussed. Since the proposed experiment employs both self and partner perceptions to evaluate task performance, theories related to the cause of difference between self impression and other's observation will also be reviewed, which include coorientation theory of communication and studies about systematic divergence in the assessments of self vs. others.

The Middletown Media Studies

The Middletown Media Studies are a comprehensive attempt to inform the understanding of how consumers interact with all major media and the roles media play in their daily lives. The first Middletown Media Studies (Papper, Holmes, & Popovich, 2004) compared media time budget results for traditional telephone survey, media diary, and observational methods. Middletown Media Studies II (Papper, Holmes, Popovich, & Bloxham, 2005) explored the media time budgets of a much larger sample using an enhanced observational methodology.

The first Middletown media studies tried to find out how often does media multitasking happen in the everyday life of the media user, and whether there are any patterns to how the media user employs multiple media sources. The study found out that there appears to be a lot more extensive simultaneous multiple media use than people realize. The study results suggest that the multitasking of TV and computer and other media are one-way streets. Based on observation, when people are watching television as their primary use, that's what they're doing. Combining television and the Web is the most prevalent form of media multitasking and that holds true for all age and gender groups. The study also found out that some forms of media are frequently used in conjunction with other forms. For example, instant messaging and telephone and newspaper use are often taking place along with other forms of media; but watching movies on DVD is frequently a single-media experience.

Middletown Media Studies II (Papper et al., 2005) explored the media time budgets of a much larger sample using an enhanced observational methodology. Investigators developed data-logging software to run on small lap-top computer during observation. A targeted, demographically balanced population was recruited for the study. The study found out that when television and radio are not the only medium in play, they are likely to be background media to some other primary media.

The web has only 48.3% of its minutes as sole or primary medium. Such a relatively low single-medium figure is mainly caused by concurrent same-screen computer-based media (email, software and instant messaging). The web also tends to be paired with "background" media such as television and music in terms of average minutes of media multitasking.

Kaiser Family Foundation Studies on American Youth Media Exposure

Kids and Media @ New Millennium

Before the study conducted by Kaiser Family Foundation in 1999, no study in the public domain has ever examined the full pattern of media use among a representative sample of U.S. youth, let alone how children have accepted, adopted, and begun to use the proliferation of new media that have become available over the past few years.

In this study, a cross-sectional national random sample of 2065 adolescents aged 8 through 18 years, including oversamples of African-American and Hispanic youth, completed media behavior questionnaires at school. 487 of those same respondents also completed weeklong media diaries at home. Questions about access, amount of exposure, type of content consumed, and the physical and social context of media use were asked for each of the following: print (books, magazines, and newspapers), television, videos, motion pictures, audio media (radio, CD, and tape players), computers, and video games.

The study found out that U.S. youngsters are immersed in media. Most households contain most media (computers and video game systems are the exception); the majority of youth have their own personal media. The average youth devotes 6.75 hours to media; simultaneous use of multiple media increases exposure to 8 hours of media messages daily. Overall, media exposure and exposure to individual media are found to vary as a function of age, gender, race/ethnicity, and family socioeconomic level. Television remains the dominant medium. About one-half of the youth sampled uses a computer daily.

The total sample spent slightly more than 0.5 h/day with the computer (21 min out of school and 13 min for school- or job-related work). That is less time than they give to the leisure use of print, radio, and CDs and tapes, and about 5.5 times less than they spend with television. Overall, computer exposure accounts for just 7% of U.S. youngsters' total media time. Contrary to many claims, then, it appears that computers still fall well short of becoming the dominant medium among American youth.

Before the new millennium, U.S. 8- through 18-year-olds spend almost a third of every day exposed to media messages. Television remains as the dominant medium, although music media become equally important by the later adolescent years. A substantial proportion of youngsters do not use a computer on any given day. However, those who do use them devote a good deal of time to them; computer users average more than 1.5 h daily on the computer.

Generation M: Media in the Lives of 8-18-year-olds

The Generation M study updated the Kaiser Family Foundation's 1999 study, Kids & Media @ the New Millennium. It is based on a nationally representative survey of 3rd to 12th-grade students, designed to explore their access to and recreational use of a full range of media, including newspapers, magazines, books, TV, DVDs / videotapes, video games, movies, radio, MP3s, CDs and tapes, computers and the Internet.

Five years after the first study, U.S. 8- to 18-year-olds reported to spend excess of 8i hours of daily exposure to (recreational) media content. However, most kids often use two or more media simultaneously, and it appears that they engage in media multitasking during at least a quarter of their media exposure time. For that reason, media use averages just under 6i hours per day. Although from 1999 to 2004 overall media exposure time increased by more than an hour, media use increased by only two minutes. In other words, as media exposure increased, so too did the proportion of time devoted to media multitasking - to the extent that the actual amount of time devoted to media use remained constant.

Screen media continue to account for most of kids' overall media budgets (48%); 35% of kids' media time is devoted to TV and another 13% goes to videos, DVDs, and movies. Although there are variations in how kids apportion media budgets in relation to age, there are surprisingly few differences in media budgets as a function of other demographic characteristics.

A combination of increased access to computers and the emergence of new, highly popular computer activities have resulted in more than a doubling of the amount of time U.S. kids spend with computers compared with the previous five years. At the same time computer penetration has increased, so too have the computer activities that attract young people. Five years ago there was no question asked about time spent playing games online, about various graphics programs or about time spent instant messaging. Since then, each of these activities has begun to claim substantial computer time from kids. The result is that the average amount of time young people devote to various computer activities has climbed from 27 minutes daily to 62 minutes daily.

Media Multitasking Among American Youth: Prevalence, Predictors and Pairings

Based on the data from the generation M study, Ulla G. Foehr recently analysis the media multitasking among American youth (Foehr, 2006). The findings are based on data from seven-day media use diaries collected from the Generation M study and on a new regression analysis of multitasking-related findings among the 1,205 7th-12th grade participants in the national survey. The data were collected from October 2003 through March 2004. In the media diaries, respondents listed every time they used media for at least 15 minutes. They then specified their primary media activity, as well as any secondary activity they may have been engaged in, such as using another media (media multitasking), or doing chores, eating, doing homework, or talking on the phone (overall multitasking).While the 2005 Kaiser Family Foundation study documented the percent of media time spent media multitasking, this analysis describes the teens most likely to "media multitask" and which media are combined the most in multitasking. It also looks at how other characteristics and teen behaviors affect media multitasking. The report indicates that:

When they are a young person's primary activity, TV and videogames are the least multitasked media, while reading and computer activities such as instant messaging, computer games and looking at websites are the most multitasked. Nearly two-thirds of the time young people spend reading, playing computer games or looking at websites, they are also doing something else at the same time.

Most young people media multitask at least some of the time, but some don't do so at all. In a typical week, eight in ten (81%) young people spend some of their media time using more than one medium at a time ("media multitasking"), such as reading a magazine while watching TV, listening to music while playing a videogame, and so on. On the other hand, nearly one in five (19%) young people don't media multitask at all over the course of a typical week. Those young people who do media multitask spend an average of 26% of their media time using more than one medium at a time.

Young people are most likely to use multiple media together when they're instant messaging (74%), surfing the Internet (74%) or playing computer games (67%); they're least likely to do so when watching TV (17% of the time). Data from the larger, nationally representative Generation M survey bolster this finding that TV is the least multitasked medium. When respondents were asked how often they used another medium while watching TV, using the computer, reading or playing videogames, 24% said they did so "most of the time" while watching TV, compared to 33% who said the same about music or using the computer.

Girls are more likely to media multitask than boys. A regression analysis of survey data from the Foundation's Generation M study allows us to predict young people's media multitasking behaviors based on other factors such as demographic characteristics and personality traits (among 7th-12th graders). This analysis indicates that even when controlling for other variables, a young person's race, their age, their parents' education, and their community income are not significant predictors of how likely they are to multitask their media; but gender is (girls are more likely than boys to use more than one medium at a time).

Not surprisingly, other factors related to having the "opportunity" to media multitask were also relevant, such as having a computer at home, having a computer within eyesight of the TV, and living in a highly TV-oriented home (a home where there are no rules about TV, the TV is usually on during meals, and the television is left on most of the time whether anyone is watching or not).

The regression analysis also indicates that adolescents who rank higher on a "sensation-seeking" scale (e.g., those who are more prone to adventure and exciting experiences) are more likely to media multitask than others.

Young people who are "heavy" media multitaskers consume nearly twice as much media as those who are "light" multitaskers. According to the Generation M study, about 15% of 7th-12th graders say they use another medium "most of the time" they're using at least three out of the four media in the study (TV, reading, videogames, and computers). These are considered "heavy" media multitaskers. Another 15% are classified as "light" media multitaskers -- " they generally use more than one medium at a time either "none of the time" or "only a little" of the time. Adolescents who are "light" media multitaskers are exposed to 6:38 of media a day, while those who are "heavy" multitaskers are exposed to 12:49 of media a day.

Pew Internet & American Life Project Studies

The Pew Internet Project is a nonprofit, non-partisan think tank that explores the impact of the internet on children, families, communities, the work place, schools, health care and civic/political life. The Project aims to be an authoritative source for timely information on the internet's growth and societal impact.

The Internet Goes to College Report

College students are a unique population. Studying their Internet habits can yield insight into future online trends. The goal of this Pew Internet Project study is to learn about the Internet's impact on college students' daily lives, and to determine the impact of that use on their academic and social routines.

During the observations of student activities in college campus, there was evidence of "multitasking" going on in the computer labs. Students used multiple programs at once, logging in to an instant messaging program while working on papers, browsing Web pages while working on an assignment.

Furthermore, it appears that multitasking is not confined solely to online interaction. On Friday afternoons, students were often observed congregating in the computer labs in groups ranging from two to seven people. People sitting next to each other shared interesting Web sites they had found, scores for an online game they were playing, or pictures they had received via email of a sorority party they had attended together. Some appeared to be checking their email in order to make plans with friends for the night or the weekend.

Socializing fits into college students' work environment, both online and offline. The PIP study suggests that the multitasking behavior that students present online is not a new technique, rather it is a supplementary method to reproduce the kinds of multiple interactions that students performed offline. It is claimed that today's college students have had long experience with multitasking well before the Internet came into their lives. Students are using such tools as IM clients and email as new media to reproduce the social interaction with which they have had previous experience. The spread of wireless access on college campuses will likely tip the scales further toward multitasking as students are able to use email, IM and other Internet tools anywhere, any time, on campus.

How Americans use instant messaging

This PIP report on Instant Messaging users is based on the findings of a daily tracking survey on Americans' use of the internet. The study found out that IM users perform multiple tasks on the computer when they instant message. When asked if they do other things on the computer or the internet at the same time they are instant messaging, 32% of adult IM users report that they multitask all the time; 29% admit doing this some of the time.

Gen Y-ers (age 18-27) are the most avid multitaskers, but a substantial number of older IM-ers divert their attention to other computer-related tasks, as well. 49% of the Y generation report conducting other computer-related business every time or almost every time they IM. The next highest group of individuals are Gen X-ers (age 28-39), at 32%. For older generations, the percentage of each age cohort is even smaller. Fewer IM users conduct non-computer-related activities, such as talking on the phone or watching TV while IM-ing -- "20% engage in other activities all the time and 30% some of the time.

Theoretical Framework for Media Multitasking

The Limited Capacity Models and Theory

Lang's (2000) limited capacity model (LCM) as well as the limited capacity model of motivated mediated message processing (Lang, 2000, Lang et al. 2005) present a theoretical framework that can be used to understand how multiple information objects are processed inside a mediated environment. This information processing model was developed from years of research on information processing in cognitive psychology (Eysenck, 1993; Lachman, Lachman, & Butterfield, 1979) as well as several empirical studies conducted by Lang and colleagues (Lang, 1995; Lang & Basil, 1998). The model is originally designed to examine television images processing and has recently been applied to online content (Diao & Sundar, 2004; Lang, Borse, Wise, & David, 2002). The limited capacity model and related theory is applicable to all contents, all media, and all goals. Thus, using this theory of information processing to study media multitasking will provide the proposed study with a framework on how humans perceive, store, and access information.

The medium, the content of the message, and the goal of the message are variables within the theory. Different media, contents, and goals will lead to different patterns of motivational and cognitive responses in viewers that, interacting with the structure and content of the messages and the individual differences of the media user, determine a great deal about how a message is processed during multitasking, including which parts of the message are attended to, encoded, and stored and how the message is evaluated and liked.

This model has five major assumptions -- "the first about the nature of cognition, the second about the nature of motivation, the third about the nature of media, the fourth about the nature of time, and the fifth about the nature of communication.

First, people are assumed to be limited capacity information processors (Basil, 1994; Schneider, Dumais, & Shiffrin, 1984; Shiffrin & Schneider, 1977). They have only a limited number of cognitive resources to expend on the tasks of perceiving, encoding, understanding, and remembering the world they live in. When there are insufficient resources available, processing suffers. Second, people have two underlying motivational systems, the appetitive (or approach) system and the aversive (or avoidance) system (Bradley, 1994; Cacioppo & Gardner, 1999; Lang, Bradley, & Cuthbert, 1997). These systems activate automatically in response to motivationally relevant stimuli in the environment and influence ongoing cognitive processing. Third, media are made up of variably redundant streams of information presented through multiple sensory channels (eyes, ears, touch) and formats (words, text, still pictures, moving pictures, etc.). Fourth, all human behavior occurs over time and is constantly changing from one second to the next. Human behavior, and therefore human cognition, is a dynamic process (Thelen & Smith, 1994). Fifth, communication is the overtime interaction between the human motivated information processing system and the communication message (Geiger & Reeves, 1993; Lang, 2000; Rafaeli, 1988). This interaction is continuous and truly interactive.

According to limited capacity theory, processing messages involves three major subprocesses: encoding, storage, and retrieval. These subprocesses occur constantly, continuously, and simultaneously. Encoding is the act of creating a mental representation of a stimulus. It is the process of selecting information from the environment for further processing. Encoding is not a veridical process. People do not make exact copies of the world in their heads. Rather, they automatically (and unconsciously) select the important aspects of a message and encode them. Information that is not encoded is lost.

Storage is conceived of as the linking of recently encoded information to previously stored information. New and old information are linked when they are concurrently activated. Thus, once new information is encoded or old information is retrieved, an active mental representation exists. Being active simultaneously forges the link. In general, the more links a new piece of information has to old information, the better it is stored. Thus, in order for information to become part of an individual's long-term memory, it must be encoded and it must be linked to already stored information. Although something must be encoded in order to be stored, many things that are encoded are only poorly stored, because few resources are allocated to storage. Thus, encoding does not necessarily predict storage (Lang, Bolls, Potter, & Kawahara, 1999). Limited capacity theory argues that motivational relevance leads to the automatic allocation of resources to storage. Storage is indexed by cued recall techniques.

Finally, the third subprocess is retrieval. This subprocess involves retrieving previously stored information. Resources (allocated through controlled or automatic mechanisms) are required in order for retrieval to occur. The primary automatic mechanism is some sort of spreading activation. Memory is loosely conceived of as bits of information that are linked to one another. When a bit is active, this activation is thought to spread through the links to activate closely related information. Thus, as information is encoded from a message, activation spreads to related information leading to the ongoing concurrent retrieval of information related to the topic of the message. The amount of ongoing concurrent retrieval will be dependent on the resources allocated to it. Limited capacity model indexes retrieval using free recall measures. According to LCM, these three processes are simultaneously and continuously active during media use. Aspects of the individual's goals, the message content, and the message structure are continuously resulting in automatic and controlled allocation and reallocation of resources to encoding, storage, and retrieval. Resources are allocated independently to the three subprocesses out of the same fixed pool of limited resources (Basil, 1994; Lang et al., 1999). When the message requirements and the user's goals result in more calls for resources than there are, cognitive overload is said to occur. This means that there are insufficient resources available to perform all three subprocesses to the level required. When this happens, performance on one, two, or all three subprocesses will deteriorate. When there are insufficient resources, some processes will receive sufficient and others will receive insufficient resources. According to LCM, where the resources go may depend on the time demands of the message. Thus, if the user cannot control the speed of the message (no stopping, rewinding, or pausing), then time-sensitive subprocesses (like encoding and to some extent concurrent retrieval) will automatically receive more resources and storage will be shorted. When this occurs you end up with a message that was attended to (all resources allocated), encoded (very good recognition memory), but cannot be retrieved (poorly stored).