Mobile media multi-taskers in a university class. Self-regulation enhances learning performance

Media multitasking has been proven to distract university students, impairing their academic performance. However, the mobile media generation, raised with instant access to mobile internet, used to dividing their attention between online and offline activities, could be expected to multitask productively. This is why a sample of 46 students, homogenous in terms of age, cultural background and field of study, was subjected to an experiment. Given the opportunity, a majority of participants engaged in distractive online activities during a face-to-face university class. Electronics usage appeared to affect their overall data retention as well as memory for two out of three specific types of information. Nevertheless, self-regulated technology use (for class-related purposes only) correlated with high learning results. Low mean electronics usage throughout the experiment, both self-reported and actual, combined with participants' written comments on consequences of media multitasking, indicates that students are aware of the detrimental impact of media distraction on academic performance. The findings demonstrate that the best academic results could be achieved by incorporating class-related online activities into the learning process.