As the Internet is becoming a more integral part of our lives, there has been a shift from using the Internet as a primary activity, done by itself, to using it as a secondary or background activity, done with one or more other activities. How do people feel about this shift to being engaged in multiple activities at the same time?
In 2009, only 16.9 percent of users said that they “love the stimulation” of doing multiple activities at once. In 2012, this number rose to 27.2 percent, illustrating that more people are enjoying the stimulation associated with multi-tasking.
Interestingly, the percentage of people who replied “I cannot pay attention to everything at once” also increased from 14.5 percent in 2009 to 17.7 percent in 2012. These changes suggest that while multi-tasking has increased, the buildup of simultaneous activities has begun to take away from the focus users once had when one activity was performed on its own. This might be why some respondents felt that they wanted to turn off or stop some of the activities (from 10.7 percent in 2009 to 12 percent in 2010).
__________
Views about being involved in multiple activities while online
(Internet users who do two or more activities while using the Internet)
Prepared by Erin Kim.
For the full report of 2012 findings, visit here.
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