Family context surrounding the use of technologies and their impact in adolescents’ media multitasking

Abstract

Recent studies pointed out that practically all adolescents are regular users of ICT., Since the most usual context for the use of technology is the home, our aim is, on the one hand, to characterize the family technology context among adolescents aged between 11 and 18 years and, on the other hand, to analyse the relationship between multitasking and the different variables found within this family context. Participants were 977 adolescents. Significant relationship between the number of devices in the home and the frequency with which these are used are showed. Although a 60% of the adolescents have no parental rules over this use, there does not appear to be any relationship between the existence, or lack thereof, of rules over the use of ICT and multitasking. To reduce adolescents amount of media multitasking, we would recommend having fewer devices in the home rather than imposing rules about their use.