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20 October 2004
Communication technologies foster multitasking
One of the distinctive features of the time we spend online is that it combines and superposes different strands of activity and perception. When sitting at the computer, we read and write text while listening to the radio, then handle a couple of IM sessions, receive a phone call, and as the conversation languishes go back to the text we were reading or writing. Often the TV is in the background, and printouts, magazines and newspapers are at reach. At any moment, our attention can be captured by them and treating them can enter into our multilayered flow of activity. If we are home, we can at the same time carry out practical tasks that only require partial monitoring, such as cooking or washing. In the office, some media-related activities are less frequently, but on the other hand all our activities take place against the background of parallel conversations, interruptions and coordinations. Even these sacred institutions that are seminars and conferences, now offering wireless Internet connection, have become hosts to multitasking. We listen to the speaker while we have conversations or we consult the web. But how widespread is multitasking around communication technologies?
We had already some indications from our analysis of IM usage research (see How teenagers use IM). While they instant message, teenagers run two or three more strands of activity in parallel.
Twice each year, BIGresearch runs the Simultaneous Media Usage Survey (SIMM) which monitors over 10.000 consumers' combined media consumption behaviour. The October 2003 SIMM showed that while listening to radio, 57,3% of the people say they are online, either regularly or occasionally, 46,5% that they read the newspaper and 17,7% that they watch TV ; while watching TV, 74,2% of the people say they read the newspaper; 66,2% say that they are online; while reading the newspaper, 52,4 say they watch TV while 49,6% say they listen to radio ; while online, 61,8% say they watch TV, 52,1% that they listen to music, whereas 20,2% say that they read the newspaper.
The September 2004 SIMM report suggests that the tendency to multitasking is growing. For instance, when they are online, 63,5% people say they watch TV either regularly or occasionally; 59,7% that they listen to the radio and 40% that they read the mail.
Where: US
When: October 2003, September 2004 (publication)
Posted at 11:28 AM in Digital behaviour | Permalink
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