In-Class Media Multitasking: The Issue (1)

The observations about students’ media multitasking habits (Bellur, Nowak and Hull;  Borst, Taatgen and Rijn; Fried; Lee, Lin and Robertson) show that, as a cognitive overload, in-class media multitasking generates significant attentional conflicts. The various research indicates that browsing the internet and chatting online require a lot of attention (Bellur, Nowak and Hull; Lee, Lin and Robertson). What they mean to say is that to listen to a lecture while simultaneously media multitasking requires lots of attentiveness and involves a great amount of the working memory.

Hypothetically, multitasking was conceived from the ability of a computer to perform multiple task at once. While this is a great thing for a computer to perform, the human mind is not built to multitask at the same level. The human capacity to process information is selective and limited. Too many sources of information can create cognitive overload, and new information coming in can cause attentional shifts and distraction.chi-ciw-this-is-your-brain-on-bsi-photo-20141020

Consistent with the attention literature, research has proven that people may and can perform multiple tasks during lectures, but this will not be without decrements in the absorption of the content of the lecture being taught. The decrement is as a result of the immutable bottlenecks in central processing in the brain. When students engage other media during lectures, the brain’s capacity to make connections of the various contents of the course is suppressed, learning is impaired, and low grades and poor performance ensue.

As Watson and Strayer have adequately explained, “One of the most robust findings in cognitive science is that attention has a limited capacity. There is a well-established association between attention and performance, such that allocating more attention to a task improves performance” (Watson and Strayer 479). Such connection encounters difficulty when students attempt to perform two or more attention-demanding tasks concurrently. In these situations, a reciprocal pattern emerges, wherein performance on one task prospers at the expense of the other.

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4 Responses to In-Class Media Multitasking: The Issue (1)

  1. Christopher says:

    very informative, our brain cannot be compared to machines like computers therefore attention cannot be divided.

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  2. Stacey T Chiyangwa says:

    In class multi tasking is indeed a distraction for students to perform well in their studies. According to Watson and Strayer 479 ,it is indispensable that attention and focus is required if maximum performance is to be attained in studies. This is because when a student is in a lecture and is opening multiple online platforms ,it becomes difficult to listen carefully to what will be presented by the lecturer since the mind will be more aligned to the particular gadget being used like computer or phone. Also some of the platforms that can easily capture the student have absolutely nothing to do with the class this is because some sites are unpredictable and anything can pop up like trending videos ,gossip news on WhatsApp, Instagram and twitter. Therefore, multi tasking is not suitable for class since students can easily be distracted to the detriment of their ultimate goal of excelling in school .However ,when necessary probably searching for some information that is relevant to the lecture on google ,students may occasionally engage in other tasks but not perennially because it is a challenge in most cases to attend to two platforms and grasp the essentials.

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  3. Tawanda Leo Pemhiwa says:

    In-Class Media Multitasking disturbs the mind’s functionality and it causes mental conflicts of interests. The human mind was made in such a way that it can focus on a limited number of activities which should also be related unlike the computer processing system that can be involved in numerous unrelated processes. Social media needs one to be focused and for one to be browsing the internet and listening in a lecture at the same time is very hard for the human mind.
    In-Class Media Multitasking often leads to poor grades and performance in class, as the mind can only obtain good results if it allocates a lot of attention on one activity, which in this case is the lectures.

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  4. Livingstone Micol Tawanda says:

    Indeed, it is difficult for the human mind to concentrate on two or more different things. Trying to listen during lectures and also researching on the internet and watching videos does not conform with the human mind as it is a way of increasing load. It is true that the way of multi tasking was derived from the way a computer operates as it is able to do many tasks at the same time. Sometimes if a computer operates running many tasks it may even crash or run slow as the load of tasks will be more, then if it is that what more of a human mind. It is not possible for the human mind to perform many tasks at the same time such as to listen to what will be taught in lectures as well as to be on the internet researching. Some may succeed with multi tasking but their results will be poor as compared to those who focus on one thing at a specific time. Multi tasking also leads to destruction as it is difficult for students to concentrate on two things, they may be distracted by ads on the internet which sometimes include funny videos.

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