The study surveyed 319 participants on their weekly multi-media (which includes a mixture of television, music, cell phones, text messaging, computer and video games, and web surfing) consumption and mental health. The findings were surprising and linked multi-tasking your media—like answering text messages on your smart phone while surfing Facebook or playing a computer game while catching up on your favorite television sitcom—to feelings of restlessness and despondency.
“[At this point] it’s not clear whether the media multitasking is causing symptoms of depression and social anxiety, or if people who are depressed and anxious are turning to media multitasking as a form of distraction from their problems,” says Mark Becker, lead investigator and assistant professor of psychology at the Michigan State University.
Even though the study didn’t pin down the root cause and effect of media multitasking on depression and anxiety, Becker notes that if those with metal strife are turning to media multitasking, it might serve as a warning sign that the individual is becoming depressed or experiencing social angst.
Regardless, says Becker, “It’s very important information to have…for understanding how to minimize the negative impacts of increased media multitasking.”
Source: Times of India
