THE PHENOMENON OF MEDIA MULTITASKING IN THE DIGITAL MEDIA ERA

Abstract

The trend of simultaneous use of media device, more and more apparent among media users, draws the attention of socio-humanist oriented researchers who find positive, but also highly negative effects of this phenomenon. In the academic and everyday discourse, this phenomenon is called media multitasking or divided attention phenomenon. In this paper a small scale explorative research conducted among students on their usage of media and multitasking habits was presented. The research sample is made of 123 examinees, mainly Communicology and journalism department students of the Faculty of Philosophy in Niš. The research was conducted by using the data collected through the questioner created for the purpose of this analysis. The questioner consisted of 6 statements, and the task for the participants was to select ones that describe their behavior connected to the media usage. One of the major findings is that the main motive for simultaneous use of media is the desire to find out and achieve the most in as little time as possible. Also, students are motivated by the very fact they own multiple medias as well as habit and boredom. Usage of more then one media at the same time is most present during the day, and media content that evokes it the most are commercials.