Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Previous research has defined audience behaviors that combine media use with other media as multiple media use while combining media with non-media activity as multitasking. This study examines (a) the prevalence and patterns of multiple media use and multitasking and (b) the media and audience factors that influence such behaviors. Consistent with previous research, this study found that youth use multiple media multitask with media frequently. In addition, the study data suggest that media factors including ownership of media in bedrooms, and audience factors particularly sensation seeking personality are significant predictors of using multiple media and multitasking. The theoretical and practical implications of the study are further discussed.

Publication Type: Session Paper
Abstract: Multitasking media use is not restricted to private settings, it also becomes more and more widespread within academic contexts. While background media use during homework seemed always quite popular among students (e.g., Jeong et al., 2005; Beentjes et al., 1996), this phenomenon now also appears to swap into the academic classroom and to impact traditional learning environments at universities. Students use laptop computers or short message features of mobile phones or PDAs during lectures, or listen to music. But what exactly motivates students to use different media during lectures? How prevalent is this phenomenon, what media types are preferred, and how exactly is the students’ attention allocated? What are the perceived beneficial – for example, motivational (Vorderer et al., 2006) – and harmful (e.g., limited information processing capacity; Lang, 2000) effects of multitasking during lectures, as perceived by the students? A cross-cultural study in the U.S., in The Netherlands and in Germany with more than 200 student respondents was conducted to explore these questions. Results indicate that multitasking in university classroom is a rather common phenomenon with complex origins and multifaceted effects. Results will be discussed in terms of motivational and learning consequences of multitasking media use.

References:
Beentjes, J. W. J., Koolstra, C. M., & van der Voort, T. H. A. (1996). Combining background media with doing homework: Incidence of background media use and perceived. Communication Education, 45(1), 59-72.
Jeong, S. H., Zhang, W., Davis, E., Fishbein, M., Jordan, A., Hennessy, M., & Martin, S. (2005). Multitasking and multiple media use among youth. Paper presented to the annual International Communication Association Conference, New York, NY.
Lang, A. (2000). The limited capacity model of mediated message processing. Journal of Communication, 50(1), 46-70.
Vorderer, P., Steen, F. F., & Chan, E. (2006). Motivation. In J. Bryant & P. Vorderer (Eds.), Psychology of entertainment (pp. 3-17). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Publication Type: Session Paper
Abstract: In recent years television has become more and more a background medium. Watching television and carrying out other activities at the same time is a situation where multitasking skills are always needed to some extent. But it has to be taken into account that these situations are of different complexity: In the total population, ‘eating’ and ‘doing housework' are the most frequent simultaneous activities (Kuhlmann & Wolling, 2004, p. 397). These activities are characterised by low cognitive demands where multitasking is relatively easy to handle.
In contrast, a student survey conducted in Germany in January 2008 (652 respondents) shows that in this group the simultaneous use of TV and PC has become the standard mode of media use (Kuhlmann, 2008; Beentjes, Koolstra & van der Voort, 1996; Pool, Koolstra & van der Voort, 2003). The use of each single of these two media requires a high (yet varying) degree of cognitive capacities. Therefore, the question comes up as to how recipients could manage this much more demanding and complex multitasking situation.
The presentation will particularly deal with:
– The spatial constellation of PC and TV: Surprisingly we find any angle of the TV´s position in relation to the PC in nearly the same frequency.
– The contents of parallel use: On the one hand we find expectable differences between the various spatial constellations: If the TV set is in the back and the screen out of the field of vision, music channels are preferred as background program. With the TV set in front, information programs and films are preferred. On the other hand we see interesting correlations between the type of PC applications used and the preferred television content: PC workers prefer humoristic programmes on TV, whereas gamers show a preference for thrilling movies. Even the extreme mode of multitasking (working at the PC and following information programs on TV) can be observed frequently, at least among students.

References:
Beentjes, J. W. J., Koolstra, C. M., & van der Voort, T. H. A. (1996): Combining background media with doing homework: incidence of background media use and perceived effects. Communication Education, 45, 59-72.
Kuhlmann, C. (2008): Nebenbeimedium: Die künftige Rolle des Fernsehens? [Background medium: The future role of television?] In R. Kaumanns, V. Siegenheim, & I. Sjurts (Ed.), Auslaufmodell Fernsehen? Perspektiven des TV in der digitalen Medienwelt [Phase-out model television? Perspectives of television in a digital media world.] (pp. 97-112). Wiesbaden, Germany: Gabler.
Kuhlmann, C., & Wolling, J. (2004): Fernsehen als Nebenbeimedium. Befragungsdaten und Tagebuchdaten im Vergleich [Television as background medium: A comparison of survey and diary data.]. Medien- & Kommunikationswissenschaft, 52, 386-411.
Pool, M. M., Koolstra, C. M., & van der Voort, T. H. A. (2003): The impact of background radio and television on high school students´ homework performance. Journal of Communication, 53, 74-87.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Meetings not only serve an important function in organizational communication, but with the prolific use of information and communication technologies (ICTs), communicative meeting behaviors are changing. This study relies on key elements in the social influence model to better understand what influences people to communicatively multitask during face-to-face meetings. Organizational norms for meeting multitasking explain greater variance in individual behavior than experience with technology and demographic predictors. The second part of this study classifies these individual meeting multitasking behaviors�termed electronic whispering�into four factors labeled: understanding, influencing, to-do lists, and always available; which together account for over 70% of the variance in this type of behavior. Implications for workplace ICT use, meetings, and contributions to the social influence model are also discussed.

Publication Type: Session Paper
Abstract: Our studies based on diary method (Jeong et al., in press) as well as survey method (Jeong & Fishbein, 2007) suggest consistent results in terms of a) the proportion of multitasking and multiple media use relative to total media use and b) frequently performed types of multitasking and multiple media use. Of the total time audiences spent with media, about 53% (survey data) to 66% (diary data) is devoted to multitasking and also about 16% (diary data) to 22% (survey data) is devoted to multiple media use. Consistent across diary and survey studies, combining the Internet with audio media and combining the Internet with television were the most frequently observed multiple media combinations among adolescents. In both diary and survey studies, audio media were frequently combined with traveling, doing homework, or social interaction; television was frequently combined with eating or doing homework; and the Internet was frequently combined with homework. The survey data further suggest that sensation seeking and having television and Internet access in one’s own bedroom were positive predictors of multitasking. Our experimental research (Zhang, Jeong, & Fishbein, 2006) suggests that when students multitask with television while performing a cognitive task, their recall of television content as well as their task performance are reduced.

References:
Jeong, S.-H., & Fishbein, M. (2007). Predictors of multitasking with media: Media factors and audience factors. Media Psychology, 10(3), 364-384.
Jeong, S.-H., Zhang, W., Fishbein, M., Davis, E., Bleakley, A., Jordan, A., & Hennessy, M. (in press). Multiple media use and multitasking with media among high school and college students: A diary method. In M.B. Hinner (Ed.). Freiberger Beiträge zur Interkulturellen und Wirtschaftskommunikation: A Forum for General and Intercultural Business Communication. Frankfurt am Main, Germany: Peter Lang.
Zhang, W., Jeong, S.-H., & Fishbein, M. (June, 2006). Effects of multitasking and arousal on television content recall and secondary task performance. Paper presented to the annual conference of the International Communication Association, Mass Communication Division, Dresden, Germany.

This research was made possible by NICHD Grant 5R01HD044136-05. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of NICHD.