Media Multitasking and Big Five Personality Traits: Moderating Impact of Cognitive Flexibility Among Young Adults

Abstract

The current research aims to explore the relationship between Big Five personality traits and media multitasking, along with the moderating role of cognitive flexibility in young adults. It is hypothesized that higher openness and extraversion will be associated with greater media multitasking; higher conscientiousness and agreeableness will be associated with lower media multitasking; higher neuroticism and greater cognitive flexibility will be associated with higher media multitasking; and cognitive flexibility will moderate the relationship between personality traits and media multitasking. A quantitative correlational design was used. The sample consisted of 402 college and university students aged 18–25 years, recruited from educational institutes in Pakistan through purposive-convenience sampling. The Media Multitasking–Revised (MMT-R) Scale (Lopez et al., 2018), Short Big Five Inventory (BFI-S) (Frieder et al., 2011), and Cognitive Flexibility Scale (Martin & Rubin, 1995) were used. Data were analyzed using correlation and moderation tests on SPSS. Results showed significant positive correlations between media multitasking and openness (r = .71*), agreeableness (r = .66) extraversion (r = .70); neuroticism (r = .65); and significant negative correlation with conscientiousness (r = –.69). Cognitive flexibility showed a moderate positive correlation with media multitasking (r = .50*). However, no significant moderation effect of cognitive flexibility was found. These findings highlight how personality traits and cognitive flexibility relate to media multitasking in young adults.