Screen overload: Pleasant multitasking with screen devices leads to the choice of healthful over less healthful snacks when compared with unpleasant multitasking

Abstract This study explored the effects of media multitasking on the choice and consumption of snack foods. Participants in four experimental conditions used either one medium or several media while having access to healthful and energy-dense, nutrient-poor (EDNP) snacks. Participants who snacked during the study were more likely to pick and eat EDNP snacks. Fewer healthful than EDNP snacks were chosen and eaten in TV/texting/online reading condition, which was rated more negatively than the other three conditions. The more positively a media use situation was evaluated, the more healthful snacks participants chose and ate. The findings are discussed using the theoretical perspectives of limited capacity and cognitive load, self-regulation and regulatory focus, and approach-avoidance system. The cognitive and emotional nature of each media use condition was considered to explain the results.