Teens Can Multitask, But What Are Costs?

Whatever the consequences of multitasking, they're going to be widespread. A recent report from the Kaiser Family Foundation found that when students are sitting in front of their computers "studying," they're also doing something else 65 percent of the time. In 1999, 16 percent of teenagers said they were "media multitaskers" -- defined as using several type of media, such as television or computers, at once. By 2005, that percentage had increased to 26 percent. The foundation also found that girls were more likely to media multitask than boys.

The current generation of teens "is trying to do lots of multitasking because they think it's cool and less boring and because they have lots of gadgets that help them be more successful at this," said David Meyer, director of the Brain, Cognition and Action Laboratory at the University of Michigan. "The belief is they're getting good at this and that they're much better than the older generation at it and that there's no cost to their efficiency."

Meyer, a psychologist and cognitive scientist who studies multitasking, has doubts.

"Kids who grow up under conditions where they have to multitask a lot may be developing styles of coping that would allow them to perform better in future environments where required to do a lot, but that doesn't mean their performance in the workplace would be better than if they were doing one thing at a time."

Researchers say there isn't any answer yet to whether multitasking helps, hurts or has no effect on teens' development.

"Given that kids have grown up always doing this, it may turn out that they are more skilled at it. We just don't know yet," said Russell Poldrack, an associate professor of psychology at the University of California at Los Angeles, who co-authored a study that examined multitasking and brain activity.

In Poldrack's study, volunteers in their 20s were given stacks of cards and asked to sort them. Then they were told to listen to a series of tones and identify the high-pitched ones while they sorted the cards. Researchers found that although there were similar success rates between the two groups when it came to sorting, when interviewed later, those who did not multitask were able to describe the cards in more detail.

Poldrack said imaging showed that different parts of the brain were active depending on whether the subjects did single or multiple tasks. When subjects were focused on sorting, the hippocampus -- the part of the brain responsible for storing and recalling information -- was engaged. But when they were multitasking, that part of the brain was quiet and the part of the brain used to master repetitive skills -- the striatum -- was active.

Multitaskers "may not be building the same knowledge that they would be if they were focusing," Poldrack said. "While multitasking makes them feel like they are being more efficient, research suggests that there's very little you can do that involves multitasking that you can be as good at when you're not multitasking."

Meyer said if parts of the brain are less active when someone is multitasking, it could be especially detrimental for teenagers, who are still developing their ability to think and analyze information.

"They develop a more superficial style of study and may not learn material as well. What they get out of their study might be less deep," he said.

They might be getting goods grades, Meyer said, but there's a chance they could be getting better grades if they learned to focus on a single task or academic subject at a time.

Teens say they know there are limits.

Blake student Priscilla Tiglao, 17, is a multitasking blur when she sits down at her desk in the evening. But she says she will often forgo IM chats when it comes to AP chemistry or AP psychology -- topics she finds more taxing. She might however, bend the rules for AP statistics.

Nane Tiglao, Priscilla's mother, is a nurse who is used to juggling multiple tasks. She talks on the phone while cooking and doing other chores. But when she watches her daughter -- oy.

Still, she thinks, in the end this will be good for Priscilla.

"I think it's necessary for the future," Tiglao said. "This generation needs to multitask and to do it right. It's a good trait for anyone."

Meyer, a multitasker himself, agrees with some of that sentiment. Many jobs demand, even require, people to be multitaskers: air traffic controllers, bond traders, commodities brokers, to name a few.

"In that case, possibly the future's bright for these kids," he said. "But I think what's really needed in the future is a fairly heavy emphasis on learning and performing in different situations. If they want to be learning and performing under conditions of multitasking, then fine. But don't let them get away with just doing just that and completely losing out on other forms of learning."