TY - JOUR
T1 - Media multitasking and well-being of university students
AU - Xu, Shan
AU - Wang, Zheng
AU - David, Prabu
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved.
PY - 2016/2/1
Y1 - 2016/2/1
N2 - This study examines the impact of media multitasking behaviors on university students' social and psychological well-being (indicated by social success, normalcy, and self-control measures). To address inconsistent findings in recent literature, we characterized media multitasking behaviors by motivations, characteristics, and contexts. In particular, we examined the motivation of the primary task and the synchronicity of the task when social interactions were involved. Synchronous social interactions were found to be significantly and positively associated with social success, normalcy, and self-control. However, as predicted, media multitasking during synchronous social interactions was associated with lower social success. Further, although increased media multitasking during cognitive activities was linked with decreased self-control, media multitasking during entertainment activities was correlated with increased social success, normalcy, and self-control.
AB - This study examines the impact of media multitasking behaviors on university students' social and psychological well-being (indicated by social success, normalcy, and self-control measures). To address inconsistent findings in recent literature, we characterized media multitasking behaviors by motivations, characteristics, and contexts. In particular, we examined the motivation of the primary task and the synchronicity of the task when social interactions were involved. Synchronous social interactions were found to be significantly and positively associated with social success, normalcy, and self-control. However, as predicted, media multitasking during synchronous social interactions was associated with lower social success. Further, although increased media multitasking during cognitive activities was linked with decreased self-control, media multitasking during entertainment activities was correlated with increased social success, normalcy, and self-control.
KW - Motivation
KW - Multitasking
KW - Self-control
KW - Social success
KW - Synchronicity
KW - Well-being
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84942307808&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.chb.2015.08.040
DO - 10.1016/j.chb.2015.08.040
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84942307808
VL - 55
SP - 242
EP - 250
JO - Computers in Human Behavior
JF - Computers in Human Behavior
SN - 0747-5632
ER -