Emotional Outcomes of Social Media Multitasking during Academic Tasks

Abstract

Focusing on the population of college students, the current study investigated the effects of synchronicity in social media multitasking on emotional outcomes (valence and arousal) in a laboratory experiment. Additionally, sensation seeking was proposed as a moderator between synchronicity and emotional outcomes. The results demonstrated that the synchronicity in social media multitasking impacts valence but not arousal levels. Additionally, no moderating effects of sensation seeking between synchronicity and emotional outcomes were found. Results of this study contribute to the understanding of media multitasking, a complex phenomenon with a great variety of tasks that can be involved. Future research should continue to advance the definition of synchronicity in media multitasking scenarios and understand its potential influences on emotional outcomes.