Soldatova, G.U.

Background. Media multitasking (MMT) is common among adolescents, especially with the introduction of digital educational tools in mixed reality environments. However, there has been limited research on MMT in educational settings with electronic learning tools including augmented reality (AR).

Objective. To study MMT in conjunction with metacognition, technology attitudes, and effectiveness of learning activities for 13–14 year olds in a mixed reality learning situation.

Design. The experiment involved organizing learning activities in MMT format using digital tools, including AR. The MMT experimental group was given the option of searching the internet for information about a problem; the control group was given only a video, the e-textbook and AR application. Eye tracking measured task switching, while MMT efficiency was assessed by the number of completed tasks and test results. Metacognition was measured using the Metacognitive Awareness Inventory (MAI), and attitudes toward digital devices were examined using the Technology Attitudes Questionnaire.

Results. Most of the adolescents (80%) preferred MMT, and no significant differences in test performance were found between the groups. Multitasking correlated with better cognitive control and metacognition scores and negatively correlated with technophobia. Learning activity effectiveness in mixed reality was assessed by the number and time of fixations on tasks in conjunction with metacognition and cognitive control. Interactive digital tools in education improve learning efficiency.

Conclusion. Adolescents' preference for multitasking does not reduce learning productivity, but it does not guarantee success either. This suggests an internalization process of using digital technologies among adolescents. As a result, MMT may be gradually mastered as a new tool that is necessary for adaptation and success in an increasingly complex technological reality. Cognitive control and metacognitive planning significantly contribute to MMT efficiency, highlighting the importance of a conscious MMT strategy for effective learning.

Background. Digital socialization is understood to be mediated by all available digital technological processes for mastering and appropriating a social experience online. Understanding of this new type of socialization requires studying parental mediation strategies for children’s online activity, as well as the level of digital literacy of both children and parents, including through the prism of adolescents’ confrontation with online risks.

Objective. To study digital socialization and the role of parents in this process; to reveal relationships between parental user activity, mediation, and digital competence, and adolescents’ user activity, digital competence, and experience of online risks.

Design. The study was conducted on the basis of the EU Kids Online 2017–2019 survey methodology. The sample consisted of 1,553 schoolchildren aged 12–17 and 1,219 parents of adolescents the same age, all from the Russian Federation.

Results. The findings show that parents underestimate the online risks faced by adolescents, especially the most common communication and content online risks. Adolescents often do not notice parental “restrictive” and “active“ mediation of their online activities. Adolescents’ request for parental help with their online difficulties depends not on the parents’ digital competence, but on their active mediation. In following parental active mediation and safety mediation strategies, adolescents are more likely to face online risks, but at the same time they use active coping strategies. The negative relationship between the adolescents’ digital competence and parental restrictive mediation and technical control suggests that excessive control and limitations hinder the development of knowledge and skills in the safe mastering of the Internet.

Conclusion. The digital gap between adolescents and parents is observed both in confrontation with online risks and awareness of this experience, and in the application of parental mediation strategies. Parental active mediation provides stronger digital socialization and more constructive ways of coping with the threats of the digital world – online risks, which are the consequence of deep immersion into this world.

Background. Internet psychology has changed its research focus from describing the Internet as a separate space, with continuous interaction between offline and online communication, to exploring socialization in the world of mixed online/offline reality. This paper deals with the psychological and user activity factors of communication on the Internet in comparison with offline communication.

Objective. To differentiate the role of user activity, difficulties with regulating and expressing aggression, empathy and tolerance in compliance with online communication rules.

Design. The study included 1,029 adolescents aged 14-17, 525 adolescents aged 12-13, 736 young adults aged 17-30, and 1,105 parents of adolescents aged 12-17. Participants assessed how likely they are to follow communication rules online and offline, and reported their user activity level; they filled out the Chen Internet Addiction Scale, Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire, Davis Multidimensional Empathy Questionnaire, and Tolerance Index.

Results. It was shown that adolescents in general are a “risk group” for noncompliance with communication rules (“Internet etiquette”), but this is due to their general propensity not to follow any rules. Both in adults and in adolescents, failure to follow online communication rules is related to difficulties with aggression regulation, tolerance, empathy, and a low level of propensity for Internet addiction.

Conclusion. A difference between online and offline communication is related not to difficulties with regulation of aggression (anger and hostility), but to a lack of empathy and tolerance, and signs of Internet addiction.

Background. A person’s ability to solve several tasks simultaneously, or within a limited amount of time, -- i.e., multitasking -- is becoming more and more highly valued in society, despite experimental data in cognitive science about the low effectiveness of such activity. But, in the modern world, the term multitasking has become increasingly used in another sense – that is, a personal choice to perform several tasks simultaneously even if a person could do them consecutively.

Objective. The aim of this study was to reveal the relationship between a personal preference for multitasking, its subjective effectiveness in children and adolescents, and their tendency for and efficacy of multitasking under experimental conditions.

Design. One hundred and fifty-seven (157) schoolchildren of different ages participated in the study, which called for responding to four windows on a screen, including texts (SMS) and video images, and reporting on their subjective multitasking and its efficacy.

Results. The majority of children and adolescents said (the older they were, the more likely) that sometimes, or often, they combine several tasks, and argued that their performance was effective.

Conclusion. The subjective perspective on multitasking and its effectiveness was more likely to be related to multitasking by carrying out several tasks simultaneously, than switching between tasks, and was not related to actual effectiveness when undertaking a variety of activities within a limited time period. In the case of distractions (for instance, incoming messages while undertaking tasks), they might be related to a decrease in effectiveness.