Objective: To examine the effects of instant messaging (IM) while reading. Design: Experimental study where students read an academic paper while receiving simulated instant messages. Subjects and Setting: 89 college students, 46 men and 43 women, ages 17–46 (M=20.17 years). Intervention(s): N/A.Outcome Measures: Time spent readcontinued
Objective: To examine the effects of instant messaging (IM) while reading.
Design: Experimental study where students read an academic paper while receiving simulated instant messages.
Subjects and Setting: 89 college students, 46 men and 43 women, ages 17–46 (M=20.17 years).
Intervention(s): N/A.
Outcome Measures: Time spent reading and number of correct responses on post-test.
Results: Those who IMed during reading took significantly longer to complete the passage. However, participants in this group did not differ significantly in test performance from the control group.
Conclusions: Findings suggest that more time is needed to achieve the same level of performance on an academic task while multitasking. © Center on Media and Child Healthreturn