Tag Archives: study

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Some Types of Multitasking Are More Dangerous Than Others

People are better at juggling some types of multitasking than they are at others, according to a new study that has implications for distracted drivers. Trying to do two visual tasks at once hurt performance in both tasks significantly more than combining a visual and an audio task, the research found.

multitasking can be dangerous

Alarmingly, though, people who tried to do two visual tasks at the same time rated their performance as better than did those who combined a visual and an audio task—even though their actual performance was worse.

“Many people have this overconfidence in how well they can multitask, and our study shows that this particularly is the case when they combine two visual tasks,” said Zheng Wang, lead author of the study and assistant professor of communication at Ohio State University. “People’s perception about how well they’re doing doesn’t match up with how they actually perform.”

Results showed that multitasking, of any kind, seriously hurt performance. Participants who gave audio directions showed a 30% drop in visual pattern-matching performance. But those who used instant messaging did even worse—they had a 50% drop in pattern-matching performance.

In addition, the findings show that technology companies need to be aware of how people respond to multitasking when they are designing products. For example, these results suggest GPS voice guidance should be preferred over image guidance because people are more effective when they combine visual with audio tasks compared to two visual tasks.

The study appeared in a recent issue of Computers in Human Behavior.

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Social Friendships an Illusion?

In any conversation about the use of social networking sites, someone inevitably questions whether these technologies actually separate people from the real world, and only provide them with the illusion of connection. According to a recent study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, that’s not actually the case.

social friends

social friendsThe study asked 2,255 Americans about their social networking habits. The answers challenge beliefs held by some. Facebook users actually have more close relationships than non-users, and are more trusting, more politically engaged, and get more social support than other Internet users.

According to Pew, of the 79% of American adults using the Internet, nearly half (47%) use at least one social networking website. Ninety-two percent of these social networking users are on Facebook, 29% on MySpace, 18% are on LinkedIn, and 13% use Twitter.

Facebook and Twitter have the most engaged participants, with 52% and 33% of users logging on daily, respectively, compared with 7% who visit MySpace daily and 6% who do the same on LinkedIn.

On Facebook in particular, participation, as opposed to passive consumption, appears to be a common trend. Fifteen percent of users update their status on an average day, 22% comment on another’s post or status, 20% comment on others’ photos, 26% “like” another user’s content and 10% send a private message to a friend.

This daily use and engagement leads to generally positive feelings among Facebook users, specifically, in how they perceive their relationships with others and the world around them. Facebook users who use the site multiple times per day are 43% more likely than other Internet users to be trusting of others—that is, they feel that most people can be trusted.

Regular Facebook users are also, on average, 9% more close to their friends than other Internet users. And they score higher when it comes to social support than other online users. Pew says they are 5 points higher in total support, 5 points higher in emotional support and 5 points higher in companionship than Internet users with similar demographics.

The study also showed a general increase in the use of social networking services to stay in touch with close friends. In 2008, only 29% of users said they had friended all of their core “confidants.” Today, that number is 40%.

Users tend to revive their “dormant” relationships (high school friend requests, anyone?), and these connections can become important sources of information, even though they’re not active relationships.

Finally, Facebook users are more engaged with politics, no doubt thanks to the numerous political conversations that occur online via status updates and political cause pages.

This study shows, says Pew, that there is little validity to claims that people who use social networking sites have smaller social networks, less closeness with others, or are exposed to less diversity. In other words, your Facebook friends are real friends because Facebook allows you to mirror your offline connections via the Internet; it does not isolate you from them. It may even enable you to have more close ties, if you are a frequent Facebook user.

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Better Spelling Through Texting?

Older people often complain about teens’ text-messaging habits. Many ask, “Why can’t they just pick up the phone and call?” According to a recent study, the average teen sends 4,400 texts every month.

Teens texting

The use of text messaging by teens (and increasingly often, by younger children) has given some people cause for concern. They argue that the abbreviations used in texting are detrimental to literacy development. Spelling, grammar, and phrasing are all somehow poised to suffer, critics of texting contend, because of the use of shortened words and sentences. Soon, they predict, students’ essays will be filled with LOLs and L8Rs.

But a new study from Coventry University finds no evidence that having access to mobile phones harms literacy skills. In fact, the research suggests that texting abbreviations (“textisms”) may actually aid reading, writing, and spelling skills.

The research, recently published in the Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, examined the impact of text messaging on 9- and 10-year-olds. The study recruited 114 children for the study, none of whom had previously used a mobile phone. Half of the group was given access to a mobile phone.

Based on a series of reading and spelling tests, researchers found a “significant contribution of textism use to the children’s spelling development during the study.” The study made it clear that it wasn’t the access to the phone per se or even the text messaging as much as specifically the use of textisms that aided the development. The reason, writes Dr. Clare Wood, one of the authors of the study, “is partly explained by the highly phonetic nature of the textisms that are popular within this age group, as the phonological and alphabetic awareness that is required for the construction and decoding of these textisms also underpin successful reading development.”

It’s also possible, the researchers add, that textisms add value because they are “another way in which students are exposed to print outside of school.” And while sure, it’s not the same as having students exposed to “great works of literature” on the weekends, it looks like texting might be a good influence nonetheless.

 

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More Adults are Now Texting

According to a new report from Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project, 72% of American adult cell phone users now send and receive text messages, up from 65% last September.

Teens continue to text more than adults with 50 messages a day “on average,” in contrast to the “typical 10 text messages sent and received by adults” every day, Pew said. The non-profit organization compared the results of its May survey of 2,252 adults with a survey it did previously on the cell phone habits of teens ages 12 to 17.

According to Pew, reasons for the increase include reaching “a point where enough other people are texting that (adults) are drawn into using it because they can finally use it to communicate with a substantial number of their friends and family.” Also, “it may be that folks have been pushed by pricing into unlimited texting plans, which has the effect of encouraging people with those plans to text more, because they no longer think of the cost, and then text more people more often.”

Some of that texting is done from behind the wheel. In a recent study, Adults and Cell Phone Distractions, Pew said that 27% of adults say they have texted while driving. The same proportion of driving-age teens (26%) also admit to doing so.

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Microsoft: Frequent Password Resets are a Waste of Time

In a recent research paper, Microsoft principal researcher Cormac Herley asserted that security measures that are being recommended are a waste of time. He argues that security protocols that attempt to protect an individual or organization from the consequences of a security breach often exact a much steeper price—in the form of user effort and time expended.

While everyone knows that “123456” is not a good choice for a password, is it worth the effort to force users to change their passwords? “Most security advice simply offers a poor cost benefit tradeoff to users and is rejected,” said Herley. Following certain password rules “shields [users] from the direct costs of attacks, but burdens them with far greater indirect costs in the form of effort.” Herley contends that users who ignore security advice aren’t lazy or stupid; rather they’re acting rationally. Required security activities are complex, and the benefits are “largely speculative or moot.”

He particularly slams the common requirement that users change passwords at specified intervals. A hacker who steals your password is going to use it right away; he won’t wait two months. “Insisting that users choose a unique strong password for each [[account]] which they change often and never write down is clearly a large burden.

The study also says that teaching users to recognize phishing URLs is a losing proposition, not worth the time spent. Herley calculates that a task requiring one minute per day from every working adult in the United States costs about $15.9 billion per year. Unnecessary security advice “treats as free a resource that is actually worth $2.6 billion an hour.”

While he might have a point, don’t go changing all your passwords to “123456” just yet. Using different passwords for different accounts and Web sites really is beneficial, as is using complex, non-guessable passwords. You can cut down on the time and effort required by using a password manager and letting it generate strong passwords for you.