The Interplay Between Individual Trait and Contextual Factors in Predicting Media Multitasking

The ubiquity of media multitasking and its negative effects on task performance underscore the importance of understanding what drives this behavior. While theoretical models propose that media multitasking arises from an interplay between individual trait and contextual factors, little research has directly examined it from this perspective. Across two studies, we explored the joint role of these factors in media multitasking. Study 1 examined whether relations between in-study media multitasking and individual traits in attention, self-regulation, and real-world media multitasking tendencies differed based on the contextual variable of task difficulty. Individual trait and contextual factors interacted when predicting media multitasking; however, results may have been affected by engagement with activities unrelated to the experimental content. Study 2 investigated the stability of multitasking behaviors and their associations with individual traits across two timepoints. Media multitasking was moderately correlated across sessions and did not consistently correlate with individual traits. It was, however, associated with greater enjoyment of the secondary media. Our findings suggest that media multitasking and its relations with trait measures are highly context-dependent, such that researchers studying media multitasking should carefully consider its sensitivity to context.