Double the Fun? Effects of Second Screening and Media Multitasking

MC7019: Week 8 Blog

Credit: Jorge de la Paz

I don't know about you, but I am definitely guilty of second screening. I actually just did it while typing this blog. My go-to procrastination method is scrolling through social media on my phone while doing schoolwork on my computer or scrolling through social media while a commercial plays on TV. It's a bad habit I've been trying to break for quite some time, and I'm definitely not proud of it. It turns out that I'm not alone.

Technology has advanced so much that we now have numerous types of media devices to use to expose ourselves to news, entertainment, political and social content. Mass communication scholars recognize that TV, smartphones, tablets, laptops and more have fundamentally changed the way we consume media. More specifically, the fact that we now use more than one medium at the same time. Media multitasking, simultaneous media exposure and second screening all refer to this phenomenon that is so prevalent in our lives. Think about when you watch TV, a live sports game, political debate or even Netflix. Chances are that at some point during your viewing you use your phone to scroll through social media during the commercials, look up the name of the actor in that show, look at memes about the fly on Mike Pence's head or text your friends about that awesome touchdown. I definitely do this all the time - most recently when watching WandaVision and seeing other people's theories on Twitter. Another example is how many Black Twitter users connect with one another by live tweeting while watching "How to Get Away with Murder." Our media experience is amplified by second screening, allowing us to connect with friends, family, fans or even strangers through shared experiences.

However, researchers are concerned about what multitasking does to the brain, especially for young people. When we divide our attention among multiple things, we perform tasks less well than we would doing them one at a time. For example, studies show that students' memory for lecture content suffered significantly when they were allowed to use laptops during class. Another study showed that when multitasking between instant messaging and voice chat, both behavioral and visual attention performance costs are lower. So, maybe it's not the best idea to text your coworker during your weekly staff meeting on Zoom. You may miss something important. One experiment by Brasel and Gips (2011) found that people switched between watching TV and using the Internet four times per minute, with an average gaze duration of only 2.6 seconds within each medium. This finding suggests a "highly fragmented media environment, where attention is constantly redirected and refocused." As this behavior becomes more of a habit, fears are growing that attention spans - especially that of children and teens - become shorter and shorter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMiyzuO1qMs

Beyond productivity in work and school environments, I'm just as concerned about the pervasiveness of screens in our daily lives. We're so hooked to our devices that it has become abnormal for us to not look at our screens all the time. Furthermore, our work, school and personal lives have become so dominated by screens that we feel as if we have no other choice but to multitask and use second screening to complete our workload. It's a hard habit to break, but we must.