Can Multitasking Make You Fat?

BEVERLY, MA -- You watch TV while simultaneously texting and browsing the Web on your tablet. If the third prong of your nightly multitasking routine involves food, you'll want to read on.

Anna McAlister, an associate professor in the Curtis L. Gerrish School of Business at Endicott College in Beverly, recently co-authored a Michigan State University study that found simultaneously using multiple screens can cause you to make bad or good food choices, depending on how stressed you get by the tasks you're performing.

The researchers found that when people engaged in multitasking activities that made them feel good -- like shopping online while watching TV and texting -- they were more likely to eat healthy. But when the tasks were stressful -- like reading an article online and filling out a quiz -- participants in the study ate 32% more unhealthy snacks than healthy snacks.

"Media multitasking can affect rationalization process," Michigan State's Anastasia Kononova, the study's lead author, said. "Our main finding was that people like some media multitasking situations and hate others. And, when using multiple screens makes people feel stressed or overwhelmed, they eat worse."

The study involved 140 participants and was published in Computers in Human Behavior. There were four groups of participants who followed one of four scenarios: watching TV only; watching TV and texting; watching TV, texting, reading an article online and filling out a quiz; and watching TV, texting and shopping online. Each participant had a choice of healthy snacks - almonds, grape tomatoes and carrots - or unhealthy snacks - potato chips, chocolates and candy.

The group that watched TV, texted and shopped online consumed, on average, 26 percent more healthy snacks than unhealthy. And those who only watched TV ate the most of both types of snacks.

"The findings of this study could be useful for parents, educators and other caregivers who might want to discourage media multitasking among young people in their care," Kononova said. "At the same time, not every form of multitasking seems to be harmful for one's diet. If you enjoy using multiple screens together, it might actually help your food choices."

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Photo by Michigan State University.

Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).