• With media multitasking, attentional demands exceed attentional capacity, the cognitive system becomes overwhelmed, and performance is affected.

• Multitasking interferes with performance and causes distractions, leading to mistakes.

University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

• It is believed that attention can be allocated only to one task at a time according to the bottleneck theory of attention.

• According to the scattered attention hypothesis, despite attentional distractions, individuals who spend long periods of time multitasking may struggle to maintain focus despite scattered attention.

• The concentration required to perform multiple tasks can lead to deficits in cognitive control due to a high demand on attentional capacity.

Theories of attention (negative effects)

May, K.E., Elder, A.D. Efficient, helpful, or distracting? A literature review of media multitasking in relation to academic performance. Int J Educ Technol High Educ 15, 13 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1186/s41239-018-0096-z


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