Attention in our digital ecosystem: The five interactive components that drive media multitasking.

Allison C Drody, Effie J Pereira, Daniel Smilek

Abstract readReview

In one paragraph

Review in Psychonomic bulletin & review, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it

0cells of the map it votes in

0citing papers in PubMed

–field-weighted citation impact

1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Allison C Drody *Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, PAS Building, 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, ON, N2L 3G1, Canada. acdrody@uwaterloo.ca.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8366-7035

Effie J Pereira *Department of Psychology, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada.

Daniel SmilekDepartment of Psychology, University of Waterloo, PAS Building, 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, ON, N2L 3G1, Canada.

Funding

Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada 2019-04071Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada PGSD-569154-2022Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada RN457177 - 473246

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Advances in the portability of digital media devices and the sophistication of digital media platforms have dramatically changed how we engage with media content and the degree to which we media multitask in everyday life. While a large body of research on dual-tasking has laid the foundation for our understanding of media multitasking, research has only begun to explore the voluntary and dynamic factors that account for how we simultaneously engage with media-based sources. Here, we consider recent studies assessing non-required instances of media multitasking and propose that this behaviour can be best understood through an interactive model that operates along a core temporal dimension, varying from stable to transient, and contains cognitive architectural, dispositional, metacognitive, task-valuation, and environmental components that drive media multitasking behaviours. By detailing how each of these five components heightens or reduces an individual's likelihood of engaging in media multitasking, we showcase the utility of the interactive model in guiding future research and accounting for the dynamic ways this behaviour is embedded within our real and digital lives.

Indexed as

AttentionMultitasking BehaviorHumansAttentionDigital mediaDual-taskingInteractive modelMedia multitasking

Identifiers

PMID40579680

DOI10.3758/s13423-025-02722-5

PMCPMC12627141

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.