Why do we multitask with media? Predictors of media multitasking among Internet users in the United States and Taiwan

Abstract

The study explored how media and audience factors, such as country of residence, media ownership, polychronicity, or the preference to do multiple things at the same time, predict media multitasking behaviors and if different motivations to multitask mediate the effects of these factors. The study is based on a cross-cultural survey (N=1972) that included respondents from the United States and Taiwan. The findings indicated that media ownership, polychronicity, and four motivations (control, entertainment, connection, and addiction) positively predicted media multitasking behaviors. The four motivations were also found to mediate the effect of media ownership. American respondents were higher polychronics and heavier multitaskers than their Taiwanese counterparts. In the Taiwanese sample, polychronicity and motivations increased the effects of media ownership on media multitasking. In the American sample, polychronicity contributed little to the effect of media ownership, and the mediating role of motivations decreased with the increase in the level of polychronicity.