Attention in our digital ecosystem: The five interactive components that drive media multitasking

Abstract

Advances in the portability of digital media devices and the sophistication of digital media platforms have dramatically changed how we engage with media content and the degree to which we media multitask in everyday life. While a large body of research on dual-tasking has laid the foundation for our understanding of media multitasking, research has only begun to explore the voluntary and dynamic factors that account for how we simultaneously engage with media-based sources. Here, we consider recent studies assessing non-required instances of media multitasking and propose that this behaviour can be best understood through an interactive model that operates along a core temporal dimension, varying from stable to transient, and contains cognitive architectural, dispositional, metacognitive, task-valuation, and environmental components that drive media multitasking behaviours. By detailing how each of these five components heightens or reduces an individual's likelihood of engaging in media multitasking, we showcase the utility of the interactive model in guiding future research and accounting for the dynamic ways this behaviour is embedded within our real and digital lives.

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