The article Junco and Cotton (2012) describes the relationship between multitasking and academic performance among college students. In the last decades, technologies such as text messaging and Facebook have witnessed a rapid growth in their adoption rates. Unlike in the past, the use of the internet has resulted in new forms of stories that are captivating making people particularly students to engage in the business of multitasking. The majority of college students are part of the digital generation, and they use technologies significantly to the point of juggling their classes, homework, and recreational activities while still using these technologies to keep up what is happening around the globe. According to the authors, research shows a high rate of adoption rates while using social technologies among scholars. Digital technology ownership varies and this depends on race, gender, and social economic status of the users. For example, one study found that white and female students are more than twice to have cell phones compared to male and African American students. Additionally, Latino students are less likely to use Facebook compared to Caucasians. According to the authors, the most famous form of social networking site is Facebook, where most students spend most of their time Additionally, students also use text messages like emails to communicate with their friends and professors. As several studies have shown, multitasking has a number of impacts on human information processing. Some of the effects include a reduction in reaction time and accuracy of the responses. Multitasking also makes individuals respond slowly compared to single tasks. The impacts of multitasking have extended to more complicated duties like learning and driving. For example, research reveals that drivers who talk using cell phones as they drive experience slow brake onset times and hardly recover from high speeding, and are likely to cause accidents.
To understand the relationship between multitasking and academic achievement, the study used a total sample of 3866 college students who were admitted on regular admissions (Junco & Cotten, 2012). All the students who participated were sent a link using college-sponsored email accounts. The use of ICT was evaluated using two important questions that included various ICT types. First, the students were asked how frequently they use ICT and how they use technology and at the same time engage in classwork. In the study, parental education was utilized as the proxy in social and economic status by asking students the highest formal education level for their parents. The study results revealed that students spend a lot of time using ICT. For instance, students indicated spending almost two hours daily searching for information on online sites. Additionally, students use all the common ICT except instant messaging as they do their homework. The authors state that the use of Facebook and instant messaging negatively affects the student's overall score. However, online searching is considered a high-frequency activity in spending time and it is the one that is mostly associated with multitasking. Multitasking using specific technologies, either classroom and outside, results in poor academic outcomes (Junco & Cotten,2012). The authors note that attempting to concentrate on Facebook and instant messaging limits student’s capacity to perform cognitive processes and affects deep learning. Moreover, when a student texts during the classroom, they cannot hold study materials and thus cannot expressively process information.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
The authors reveal that the majority of students use emails to communicate with their professors concerning their assignments. On the other hand, students also use Facebook to talk to their age mates. Therefore, the non-significant relationship between multitasking as students uses emails and academic achievement may be attributed to the fact learners usually email their professors to get educational content (Junco & Cotten, 2012). The authors depict that finding information online is not necessarily part of schoolwork but a popular activity by students. According to the linear regression analysis, texting and Facebook use among students as they try to complete schoolwork usually exhaust students' capacity to preclude deep learning. The authors argue that the purpose and type of ICT usually matters in terms of educational effects towards multitasking.
According to the authors, the study had several limitations that made it difficult to determine the causal mechanisms between overall student's GPA and the use of technology. Students who spend a lot of time multitasking have low GPAs. Nonetheless, this is equally that students with lower GPAs could also spend a lot of time multitasking. Another limitation experienced by the authors during the study is estimating frequency when students multitask and at the same time do their homework. All the multitasking variables were evaluated using self-report.
The authors concluded that the frequency of multitasking with particular technology like instant messaging and Facebook adversely affects the overall college GPA among students. However, although the findings congruent with multitasking study while using emails, the use of cell phones and searching for information on online sites are not related to overall GPA. Notably, this type of discrepancy may be explained using technological characteristics used by students while using ICTs. Based on the previous research on multitasking, it is clear that ICT use also impacts academic achievement by overloading the capability to process information. According to the authors, future research studies should consider investigating discrepancies between the different social media sites and how their different characteristics affects information processing in the process of multitasking.
Reference
Junco, R., & Cotten, S. R. (2012). No A 4 U: The relationship between multitasking and academic performance. Computers & Education , 59 (2), 505-514.
