Student Perspectives On Multitasking

People, and in particularly students, are immersed in a technology-enabled world that encourages human multitasking. Yet referent research indicates multitasking behaviors usually result in non-desirable outcomes such as reduced productivity and increased errors. The current survey research was conducted to determine perceptions of college students regarding the impact of multitasking. Do they frequently multitask, do they think multitasking improves their performance, and are there gender differences in their perceptions? The overall results are ‘yes’ to all of the above. Unfortunately, referent research suggests this is an undesirable perspective that will lead to lower performance behaviors. Females tend to believe more strongly that women are better than men at multitasking, although no known empirical research supports this belief. Students view multitasking as relatively more acceptable in a classroom environment than in a business meeting setting, which has potential implications for course administration.