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