Exploring Undergraduate Students' Digital Multitasking in Class: An Empirical Study in China

UN's 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development highlights the crucial role of education in securing a promising future for humanity, especially in today's digital era. However, the prevalence of smartphones has fostered an increase in students' usage and subsequent digital multitasking tendencies, posing a significant threat to education process, especially in higher education. To gain further insights into this phenomenon, this exploratory descriptive study surveyed 519 students from China university to investigate the magnitude of students' digital multitasking, motivation behind digital multitasking, and beliefs about reducing phone use. The study found that, (1) despite many respondents reporting the existence of phone limits, no possible reduction in phone use frequency was observed; (2) digital multitasking was positively correlated with mobile phone dependence and non-study motivation; (3) while a majority (86.71%) students expressed their intent to reduce digital multitasking, they were mostly hesitant to follow the moderate or strict rules on phone use; (4) no clear consensus was established (49.90% vs. 50.10%) regarding whether schools should pose more restrictions to encourage such reduction. Our research provides further insights into students' digital multitasking to improve learning quality and sustainable education.

Automated summary

UN's 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development emphasizes the important role of education in securing a promising future in today's digital era. However, the prevalence of smartphones has led to increased digital multitasking among students, posing a significant threat to education, especially in higher education. This study surveyed 519 students from a university in China to investigate the extent of digital multitasking, motivations behind it, and beliefs about reducing phone use. The findings suggest that although students express a desire to reduce digital multitasking, they are hesitant to follow strict rules on phone use. There is also no clear consensus on whether schools should implement more restrictions.