Digital Multitasking, Social Relationships, and Teens

[Dr. Chia-Chen Young]: Adults worry that teens today spend so much time on the phone to the point where they no longer talk to other people, even when their friends are in the same space. We refer to this behavior as “digital social multitasking,” defined as multitasking on a digital device such as your phone during a social interaction. But just how much should we be worried about this behavior? When teens pull up their phone during an interaction, we usually immediately assume that that’s a bad thing because it looks like they’re not paying attention, and so eventually this is going to hurt their friendships. But it turns out data shows that level of multitasking isn’t a consistent predictor of social development or relationship quality. What matters more is teens’ own perception of the behavior. We also need to consider the context of multitasking. Consider these three scenarios. Scenario one: I’m sharing something that really bothers me with a friend. My friend keeps scrolling through the phone as if she doesn’t care and she’s not paying attention. Scenario two: I’m sharing something that bothers me with a friend. The friend is on the phone looking up information for me and trying to figure out a solution with me. Scenario three: I’m with a friend. We’re just hanging out. We’re not talking about anything serious. We’re both on the phone, but we keep sharing with each other what we’re seeing and are doing on the phone. Now, in scenario one, it’s understandable that phone use and multitasking is hurtful. But in scenarios two and three, multitasking actually isn’t a problem. And the good news is that, according to teens’ self-report, scenarios two and three are far more common than scenario one.