Texting as a distraction to learning in college students

Texting has been shown to be cognitively distracting for students in lecture settings, but few have done empirical work, or looked at moderating effects between texting and academic outcomes. This experimental study compared the proportion of correct answers on a lecture quiz between students who were randomly assigned to text message during a pre-recorded lecture and those who were not, while investigating possible moderators. The participants who text messaged throughout the lecture scored significantly lower in percent of correct responses (t(95) = -4.6, p < .001, d = .93). No moderating effects were found, including: perceived distraction, perceived texting ability, number of text messages sent and received during the lecture, age, and gender. Published by Elsevier Ltd.