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Technology and Adolescent Mental Health pp 101–112Cite as

Media Multitasking and Mental Health

Abstract

Multitasking—or task switching—has become a necessary function of modern life. Multitasking with media is a common practice among young people, who report its ease yet perform worse on individual tasks when they attempt to multitask. Adolescent media multitasking may be both adaptive and maladaptive and include prosocial outcomes and/or negative mental health problems including depression, anxiety, and sleep disorders. This chapter examines the relationship between media multitasking and adolescent mental health.

Keywords

  • Multitasking
  • Task switching
  • Well-being
  • Depression
  • Anxiety
  • Sleep disorders

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Communications, California State University, Dominguez Hills, Carson, CA, USA

    Nancy A. Cheever

  2. Department of Psychology, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA

    Kristin Peviani

  3. Department of Psychology, California State University, Dominguez Hills, Carson, CA, USA

    Larry D. Rosen

Authors
  1. Nancy A. Cheever
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  2. Kristin Peviani
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  3. Larry D. Rosen
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nancy A. Cheever .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA

    Dr. Megan A. Moreno

  2. Department of Pediatrics, University of Pittsburgh Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

    Dr. Ana Radovic

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Cheever, N.A., Peviani, K., Rosen, L.D. (2018). Media Multitasking and Mental Health. In: Moreno, M., Radovic, A. (eds) Technology and Adolescent Mental Health . Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69638-6_8

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