Technology Affects Student Success on Exams

This study measured the effect of using an electronic device for a non-academic purpose during class on subsequent exam performance. It was found that dividing attention between an electronic device and the classroom lecture did not reduce comprehension of the lecture, as measured by within-class quiz questions. Instead, divided attention reduced long-term retention of the classroom lecture, which impaired subsequent unit exam and final exam performance. Students self-reported whether they had used an electronic device in each class. Exam performance was significantly worse than the no-device control condition both for students who did and did not use electronic devices during that class.

Glass, A. L., & Kang, M. (2018). Dividing attention in the classroom reduces exam performance. Educational Psychology. https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01443410.2018.1489046

Texting and Driving Study

According to one survey by the Pew Research Center, adults are just as likely as teens to have texted while driving and are substantially more likely to have talked on the phone while driving. Beyond driving, some cell-toting pedestrians get so distracted while talking or texting that they have physically bumped into another person or an object.

Other key findings include:

-       Nearly half of all texting adults say they have sent or read a text message while driving.

-       Looking at the general population, this means that roughly a quarter of all American adults say they have sent or read text messages while driving.

-       Three in four cell-owning adults say they have talked on a cell phone while driving.

-       Among all adults, that translates into roughly two thirds who have talked on a cell phone while driving.

-       Half of all adults say they have been in a car when the driver was sending or reading text messages on their cell phone. 

-       Nearly half of all adults say they have been in a car when the driver used the cell phone in a way that put themselves or others in danger. 

-       Beyond driving, one in six cell-owning adults say they have physically bumped into another person or an object because they were distracted by using their phone. 

Madden, M., & Rainie, L. (2010). Adults and cell phone distractions. Washington, D.C.: Pew Research Center.

http://www.pewinternet.org/files/old-media/Files/Reports/2010/PIP_Cell_Distractions.pdf

Mobile Phone Multitasking and Academic Performance

This paper reviews the emerging literature on mobile phone multitasking by focusing on three questions concerning the influence of mobile phone multitasking on academic performance:

(a) How does mobile phone multitasking impair learning?

(b) Why does mobile phone use impair learning?

(c) How to prevent from mobile phone distraction?

Findings show that mobile phone multitasking is prevalent among learners, multitasking with mobile phone distracts learning via different ways and mechanisms, and that the effect of multitasking varies on different mobile phone uses, learning tasks, and learners.

Chen, Q. & Yan, Z. (2015). Who multi-tasks and why? Multi-tasking ability, perceived multi-tasking ability, impulsivity, and sensation seeking. Computers in Human Behavior, 54, 34-42. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2015.07.047