Abstract
The current study aims to determine if timed study breaks will affect students’ amounts of media multitasking while studying. Participants were 43 college students from a small, faith based liberal arts college in the Midwest (men=11, women=32). It was predicted that giving students timed breaks would lower students’ amounts of media multitasking, as well as total number of distractions while studying. It was also predicted that using timed breaks would give students a stronger feeling of accomplishment in their studying. Lastly, it was predicted that people with higher levels of media multitasking would have lower GPAs than students with lower levels of media multitasking. A repeat measures t test revealed that there was a small to moderate possible effect in students’ amounts of media multitasking while studying while implementing study breaks. Another repeat measures t test found that there was a moderate to large possible effect in students’ total number of times that they were distracted while studying while using study breaks. The last repeat measures t test revealed that there was a small to moderate possible effect in students’ feelings of accomplishment while studying while also implementing study breaks. Lastly, a Pearson product correlation found that there was no correlation between GPA and levels of media multitasking. While these results were not statistically significant, the effect sizes suggest that implementing study breaks may positively impact students’ independent study times through reducing the number of distractions and media multitasking. Implications and limitations as well as suggestions for future research are discussed.
Included in
Take a Break: Study Breaks’ Effects on Media Multitasking
The current study aims to determine if timed study breaks will affect students’ amounts of media multitasking while studying. Participants were 43 college students from a small, faith based liberal arts college in the Midwest (men=11, women=32). It was predicted that giving students timed breaks would lower students’ amounts of media multitasking, as well as total number of distractions while studying. It was also predicted that using timed breaks would give students a stronger feeling of accomplishment in their studying. Lastly, it was predicted that people with higher levels of media multitasking would have lower GPAs than students with lower levels of media multitasking. A repeat measures t test revealed that there was a small to moderate possible effect in students’ amounts of media multitasking while studying while implementing study breaks. Another repeat measures t test found that there was a moderate to large possible effect in students’ total number of times that they were distracted while studying while using study breaks. The last repeat measures t test revealed that there was a small to moderate possible effect in students’ feelings of accomplishment while studying while also implementing study breaks. Lastly, a Pearson product correlation found that there was no correlation between GPA and levels of media multitasking. While these results were not statistically significant, the effect sizes suggest that implementing study breaks may positively impact students’ independent study times through reducing the number of distractions and media multitasking. Implications and limitations as well as suggestions for future research are discussed.