Multitasking across generations: Multitasking choices and difficulty ratings in three generations of Americans

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Abstract

This study investigated whether changes in the technological/social environment in the United States over time have resulted in concomitant changes in the multitasking skills of younger generations. One thousand, three hundred and nineteen Americans from three generations were queried to determine their at-home multitasking behaviors. An anonymous online questionnaire asked respondents to indicate which everyday and technology-based tasks they choose to combine for multitasking and to indicate how difficult it is to multitask when combining the tasks. Combining tasks occurred frequently, especially while listening to music or eating. Members of the “Net Generation” reported more multitasking than members of “Generation X,” who reported more multitasking than members of the “Baby Boomer” generation. The choices of which tasks to combine for multitasking were highly correlated across generations, as were difficulty ratings of specific multitasking combinations. The results are consistent with a greater amount of general multitasking resources in younger generations, but similar mental limitations in the types of tasks that can be multitasked.

Introduction

Three broad generations of persons in the United States often are described as Baby Boomers, born between 1946 and 1964 (Jones, 1980), Generation X, born between 1965 and 1979 (Coupland, 1991), and the Net Generation, born between 1980 and the present (Tapscott, 1997). Although there are individual differences among members of each generation, there also are within generational similarities. Baby Boomers are the current political leaders, business CEOs, middle managers, and shop owners, the earliest of whom are beginning to retire, and the workplace is now being populated by Generation X and Net Generation members.

Unlike the older generations, members of the Net Generation grew up with computer-based technology readily available and enmeshed in their school and home environments. Their social worlds include not only physical locations, but also online worlds. They are eager adopters of technology. For example, it took the Baby Boomer generation 10 years to adopt the computer, but the Net Generation adopted text messaging in 2 to 3 years. The generations also differ in how they communicate. Net Geners’ preferred communication tools are different than other generations and they use a greater variety of media to communicate with the world and with their friends. Other key generational issues include differences in core values dealing with money, career goals, and leadership style (Rosen, 2007).

Technological changes are central to differences between generations. Present-day children are growing up in a new worldwide technological environment where new devices allow the integration of multiple tasks. Generational differences in technology-related behavior exist at home as well as in the workplace. Parents often describe how their teenage child performs their at home tasks while listening to music on their portable digital music player, watching television, sending text messages to friends, or checking their MySpace pages. Some researchers describe the situation at home for youths as media “saturation” through technology (Roberts, Foehr, & Rideout, 2005).

Associated with the expanse of technology-based media in the home is an ever-growing need to multitask. It is not surprising to hear young people describe multitasking as a “way of life” or to declare that it is “easy” (Rosen, 2007). Although brain research suggests that the brain centers responsible for executive functions, and hence multitasking, are not fully developed until after puberty (Blakemore and Choudhury, 2006, Conklin et al., 2007, Dux et al., 2006, Luciana et al., 2005), research examining the behavior of members of the youngest generation suggests that they are multitasking frequently. Jordan et al. (2005) had junior high school and college students fill out daily media and non-media use questionnaires for a week, and then looked at the frequencies with which the students simultaneously combined media use with other tasks. They found that the modal behavior was multitasking. Foehr (2006), re-analyzing data from previous questionnaire and diary studies of 3rd–12th graders regarding media use, found that multitasking happened mostly at the computer and that only about one-fifth of the children and teens in the sample devoted little or no time to multitasking involving media. Jeong and Fishbein (2007) gave an online survey to 14-, 15-, and 16-year-olds that asked about media usage and owning personal media, finding that multitasking was common. The three most common forms of multitasking were listening to audio media while traveling, listening to audio media while interacting with friends, and watching television while eating. Very few youths reported that they never multitask with media.

What effects will constant multitasking have on today’s youths? Blakemore and Choudhury (2006) suggested that environmental input during this period might alter brain function. Potential effects upon multitasking ability include both negative and positive outcomes. A recent study showed that multitasking (or being distracted) affects the kinds of learning that take place in the brain and the brain areas involved in learning (Foerde, Knowlton, & Poldrack, 2006). Foehr (2006) speculated that constant multitasking by today’s youths might have positive benefits in juggling multiple activities and using time efficiently. Levine, Waite, and Bowman (2007) suggested that repeated engagement in tasks that require frequent attention shifts (e.g., IMing) by youths could lead to a preference for frequent task switching over sustained attention during cognitive tasks.

No studies direct investigate the possibility that the younger generations exhibit a different pattern of multitasking behavior than the older generations. In the present study, the at-home multitasking habits of a sample of persons in the United States were examined with respect to the hypothesis that there are generational differences in multitasking limitations. The sample included persons of all ages and from a wide variety of ethnic backgrounds. Evidence was gathered using data from an anonymous, online questionnaire posted in the Fall of 2007. The choices of tasks combined for multitasking, as well as the perceived difficulty of combining certain tasks, was measured through self-report. Based on the possibility that there are generational differences in multitasking, the following research hypotheses were generated.

Hypothesis 1

More recent generations will multitask more than older generations. Specifically, when looking at the number of tasks performed at once and the number of combinations of tasks that are selected for multitasking, Net Geners will multitask more than Gen Xers who, in turn, will multitask more than Baby Boomers.

Hypothesis 2

More recent generations will show a qualitatively different pattern of task choices for multitasking than older generations. For example, if Net Geners are better at multitasking than members from other generations, then they should be able to multitask with combinations of tasks that differ from members of other generations.

Hypothesis 3

More recent generations will find it easier to multitask than older generations. For any given combination of tasks, the average ratings of difficulty should be lowest (i.e., easier) for the Net Geners, next lowest for the Gen Xers, and the highest for the Baby Boomers.

Hypothesis 4

More recent generations will show a qualitatively different pattern of task combination difficulty ratings than older generations. If each generation is changing in how it multitasks, then more recent generations and older generations should not find the same task combinations to be difficult. For example, task combinations that one generation finds to be “difficult” will not be the same task combinations that other generations find to be difficult.

Section snippets

Participants

We recruited 1319 participants through individual contact from students in an upper-division general education course (a cultural pluralism course) during the Fall of 2007. The course took place at a medium-sized four-year university in Los Angeles, California. Baby Boomers were defined as those whose birth years fell within the range 1946–1964, Gen Xers were defined as those whose birth years fell within the range 1965–1978, and Net Geners were defined as those whose birth years were after

Baseline task performance

Initial analyses examined how often each generation used the 12 basic tasks included in the study. Fig. 1 shows the data from the simple question about whether each task was performed or not. These data reflect the likelihood of each generation performing each task by itself, without combining it with another task during multitasking. The data were collected for only 9 of the 12 tasks since it was assumed that all respondents would eat, talk to others face to face, and use the telephone on a

Discussion

This study investigated generational differences in multitasking. The goal was to collect data that would allow comparisons of multitasking frequency and multitasking difficulty across generations. The unambiguous detection of differences in multitasking ability across generation could have implications for the sociological study of persons over time, as well as for the psychological understanding of basic mental operations. The procedure used was to obtain data from persons from three

Conclusion

The proliferation of technological devices and new choices of software programs, especially of those that aid in communication, allows the integration of some tasks (e.g., chatting) while carrying out other tasks. The data from the present study suggest that large amounts of multitasking are occurring across all generations of persons in the United States. The main question of this research study was, are there generational differences in multitasking skills? The data show that the younger

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