Media Task-Switching as Self-Control Failure

Abstract: Media task-switching refers to the act of interrupting a primary task by turning to media distractions. Using a self-control failure framework, this paper examines why and to what effect people engage in task-switching with media. We theorize that media task-switching is dually shaped by people’s motivation to perform well on the primary task and by the presence of “tempting” media. Study 1, a lab experiment ( N = 188), shows that (1) the availability of media produced task-switching, while high motivation to perform well on the primary task reduced it; (2) some media activities (i.e., Facebook browsing) improved mood, but overall, task-switching decreased mood; and (3) task-switching led to a significant drop in task performance. Study 2, a vignette-based online experiment with mixed model design ( N = 163) replicates the effect of motivation on task-switching and further examines how the effortfulness of media activities influences task-switching. In both social media use and texting context, individuals were more likely to switch to low-effort activities (e.g., browsing social media, checking messages) compared to medium-effort or high-effort activities (e.g., composing posts, initiating messages). This paper provides evidence that both psychological and media-related factors jointly shape media task-switching, and advances self-control theory by explicating the tempting characteristics of daily media use.