Media-Multitasking And Attentional Control: A Theory-Driven Research Agenda

Mobile digital technologies provide ample incentives and opportunities for media-multitasking, and concerns have been raised about its potential sustained impact on attentional control. However, recent reviews and meta-analyses demonstrate that cross-sectional outcomes on the relationship between media-multitasking and attentional control remain inconsistent and inconclusive. This obstructs theoretical advancement regarding sustained impact and, consequently, hinders clear insight into the question about whether, when, and for whom remedial interventions should be considered. Here we argue that extant research has suffered from a collective failure to consider state-of-the-art attentional control theory and methodology, focusing on inter-individual variation in attentional control, while neglecting highly relevant intra-individual control variation. In this paper we outline the theoretical and methodological implications of this neglect for the study of sustained media-multitasking effects on attentional control, outlining the tenets of a theory-driven research agenda to guide a new generation of cross-sectional studies. These will be much needed in providing the evidence base to justify and inform more resource-intensive causal research in this field.