{"id":3968,"date":"2018-11-03T08:00:12","date_gmt":"2018-11-03T13:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/braindevs.net\/blog\/blog\/?p=3968"},"modified":"2018-10-30T19:56:17","modified_gmt":"2018-10-31T00:56:17","slug":"media-multitasking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/media-multitasking\/","title":{"rendered":"Does Media Multitasking Really Interfere with Student Thinking?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"media<\/a>To many teachers, it just seems obvious: all that screen times MUST be bad for student brains.<\/p>\n

To many other teachers, it just seems obvious: technology will unleash academic possibilities and revolutionize education.<\/p>\n

So, which is it? Does media multitasking damage students’ cognitive capabilities? Or, does it allow them new avenues to creative possibilities?<\/p>\n

Here’s What We Know<\/h2>\n

In a recent analysis<\/a>, Uncapher and Wagner surveyed research into this topic.<\/p>\n

Sure enough, they found some troubling evidence.<\/p>\n

In half of the studies they examined, people who often use multiple streams of technology scored lower on working memory<\/strong> tests than those who don’t.<\/p>\n

In two studies, they had a harder time recalling information from long-term memory<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Studies also showed problems with\u00a0sustained attention<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Here’s a place where media multitasking might help: task switching<\/strong>. Given all the practice that multitaskers get diverting attention from one gizmo to another, they might well get better at doing so.<\/p>\n

Alas, most of the research that U&W examined didn’t support that hypothesis.<\/p>\n

Here’s What We Don’t Know: A LOT<\/h2>\n

Although all of the sentences above are true, they don’t answer most questions with any certainty.<\/p>\n

For example, if half of the studies showed that high multitaskers do worse on working memory tests, that means that half of the studies DON’T reach that conclusion.<\/p>\n

(It’s important to note that NONE of the studies showed that high multitaskers were better at working memory tasks than their counterparts.)<\/p>\n

Uncapher and Wagner repeatedly emphasize this point. We don’t have lots of studies — and those we do have don’t all point the same direction.<\/p>\n

Another important question:\u00a0causality<\/strong>. Perhaps multitasking reduces sustained attention. Or, perhaps people who have trouble sustaining attention multitask more often.<\/p>\n

Firm Conclusions<\/h2>\n

At present, we can conclude with confidence that we don’t have enough evidence to conclude anything with confidence.<\/p>\n

Overall, the evidence suggests heavy media multitasking might cause (or might result from) relative weaknesses in several cognitive functions.<\/p>\n

We certainly don’t have evidence that encourages us to promote <\/em>multi-gizmo use.<\/p>\n

I myself try to stick to one device at a time. Until more evidence comes in, I’ll gently suggest my students do likewise.<\/p>\n

(For thoughts on technology and attention, click here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To many teachers, it just seems obvious: all that screen times MUST be bad for student brains. To many other teachers, it just seems obvious: technology will unleash academic possibilities and revolutionize education. So, which is it? Does media multitasking damage students’ cognitive capabilities? Or, does it allow them new avenues to creative possibilities? Here’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":3973,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[31,23,34,29,30],"class_list":["post-3968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lb-blog","tag-attention","tag-long-term-memory","tag-multitasking","tag-technology","tag-working-memory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3968"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3968\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3970,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3968\/revisions\/3970"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningandthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}