Nee, multitasken is niet productief, maar toch wordt het steeds populairder. Waarom vroegen onderzoekers Zheng Wang en John M. Tchernev zich af. Ik zal de vraag maar onmiddellijk beantwoorden: we gebruiken media door elkaar en tegelijk (multimedia multitasken) omdat het ons een goed gevoel geeft.

Abstract van het onderzoek:

The increasing popularity of media multitasking is frequently reported in national surveys while laboratory research consistently confirms that multitasking impairs task performance. This study explores this apparent contradiction. Using dynamic panel analysis of time series data collected from college students across 4 weeks, this study examines dynamic reciprocal impacts of media multitasking, needs (emotional, cognitive, social, and habitual), and corresponding gratifications. Consistent with the laboratory research, cognitive needs are not satisfied by media multitasking even though they drive media multitasking in the first place. Instead, emotional gratifications are obtained despite not being actively sought. This helps explain why people increasingly multitask at the cost of cognitive needs. Importantly, this study provides evidence of the dynamic persistence of media multitasking behavior.