Digital Juggling: How Media Multitasking Affects Working Memory Performance Among University Students

The widespread adoption of media multitasking among university students raises concerns about its underexplored effects on working memory. This study investigates the relationship between media multitasking habits and both verbal and visuospatial working memory performance. A correlational research was conducted with 40 undergraduate students from a local university, ensuring equal gender distribution and using convenience sampling. Media multitasking habits were measured with the Short Media Multitasking Measure (MMM-S), while both verbal and visuospatial working memory performances were assessed using the Digit Span Task (DST) and Corsi Block-Tapping Test, respectively. The results revealed a significant positive relationship between media multitasking habits and working memory performance, as indicated by greater recall accuracy but longer task completion times for participants with higher media multitasking scores.