Negative Effects Of Multimedia Multitasking

Everywhere we look we see students with IPods, tablets, laptops, and cell phones. They are constantly connected to the internet in some form or fashion. Many students are using several of these devices at the same time. Most if not all students believe that they are getting more done in less time but what they fail to realize is that there are adverse effect to multimedia multitasking. Multimedia Multitasking effects the way we think, our concentration, the way we communicate, learn and respond to the world around us.

In Simpson’s paper Multitasking State of Mind she quotes a Time magazine article titled “Are Kids Too Wired for Their Own Good?” in that article the writer notes ”The mental habit of dividing ones attention into many small slices

There was a time when a person would walk into a library and search for the information they needed. A student could and would spend hours searching for the correct quote or statistical information they needed for a paper. Now with a few strokes on the keyboard and a couple of clicks I can find the population of India.

Carr writes “media are not just passive channels of information. They supply the stuff of thought. And what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation.” We expect to receive information in class or anywhere else like we receive it from the internet. We want that information now and if we cannot have it now then we get bored and find ways to distract ourselves from that boredom. Yes, it does make doing task more exciting to multitask and even more fun if you through some technology into it. Students fool themselves every day with this way of thinking. They rely too much on technology to get multiple task done simultaneously and we do not realize how it effects our focus and concentration. They cannot do two or more things at the same time. They would all benefit form putting the gadgets away once in a while, focus on the task at