Effects of Multiple Device Use on Mental Workload

Modern life involves the daily use of multiple devices like cell phones, laptops, desktops, personal data assistants, tablets, etc., for sending, receiving, storing and processing information. And although using multiple devices and processing many types of information is very common, especially among the young, most of us complain about how difficult, stressful or tedious this can be or how inefficient and unorganized we sometimes feel despite all these technological advances and amenities.

Mental workload can be defined as "the portion of operator information processing capacity or resources that is actually required to meet system demands" (Eggemeier, et al., 1991). Simply put it means the amount of mental resources required to perform the task(s) on hand. The goal of this study would be to understand through a literature review and possible experimentation, how the use of multiple devices affects mental workload. Methods to measure mental workload will also be investigated.