THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MEDIA MULTITASKING HABITS AND WORKING MEMORY PERFORMANCE
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UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA SARAWAK
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In today’s digital era, media multitasking is particularly prevalent among younger demographics. This quantitative study examines the relationship between media multitasking habits and working memory performance among undergraduate students at Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS). A sample of forty (40) participants, equally distributed by gender, was recruited through convenience sampling. The Short Media Multitasking Measure (MMM-S) was used to assess media multitasking habits, while the Digit Span Task (DST) and Corsi Block- Tapping Test evaluated verbal and visuospatial working memory performance, respectively, recording total correct recall and total time taken. Pearson and Spearman Rank-Order Correlations were employed for data analysis. The results revealed a significant positive relationship between media multitasking habits and both verbal and visuospatial working memory performance, as evidenced by greater accuracy in recall but longer task completion time among the participants with higher media multitasking score. These findings highlight the nuanced effects of media multitasking on distinct aspects of working memory performance, addressing prior research inconsistencies and advancing understanding of its cognitive implications within an academic framework. The study’s limitations include potential confounding variables, a small sample size, use of self-reported MMM-S, and reliance on DST and Corsi Block-Tapping Test. Future research should explore additional variables, employ larger and more diverse samples, supplement selfreports MMM-S with objective assessments, incorporate ecologically valid tasks, as well as consider alternative working memory performance assessments and neuroimaging techniques.