Citation

Becker MW, Alzahabi R, Hopwood CJ. Cyberpsychol. Behav. Soc. Netw. 2013; 16(2): 132-135.

Affiliation

Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, USA. becker54@msu.edu

Copyright

(Copyright © 2013, Mary Ann Liebert Publishers)

DOI

10.1089/cyber.2012.0291

PMID

23126438

Abstract

We investigated whether multitasking with media was a unique predictor of depression and social anxiety symptoms. Participants (N=318) completed measures of their media use, personality characteristics, depression, and social anxiety. Regression analyses revealed that increased media multitasking was associated with higher depression and social anxiety symptoms, even after controlling for overall media use and the personality traits of neuroticism and extraversion. The unique association between media multitasking and these measures of psychosocial dysfunction suggests that the growing trend of multitasking with media may represent a unique risk factor for mental health problems related to mood and anxiety. Further, the results strongly suggest that future research investigating the impact of media use on mental health needs to consider the role that multitasking with media plays in the relationship.

Language: en