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Comput Human Behav. 2013 November 1; 29(6): 2501–2511.

The Media and Technology Usage and Attitudes Scale: An

empirical investigation
L.D. Rosen*, K. Whaling, L.M. Carrier, N.A. Cheever, and J. Rokkum
California State University, Dominguez Hills, CA 90747, United States

Abstract
Current approaches to measuring people’s everyday usage of technology-based media and other
computer-related activities have proved to be problematic as they use varied outcome measures,
fail to measure behavior in a broad range of technology-related domains and do not take into
account recently developed types of technology including smartphones. In the present study, a
wide variety of items, covering a range of up-to-date technology and media usage behaviors.
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Sixty-six items concerning technology and media usage, along with 18 additional items assessing
attitudes toward technology, were administered to two independent samples of individuals,
comprising 942 participants. Factor analyses were used to create 11 usage subscales representing
smartphone usage, general social media usage, Internet searching, e-mailing, media sharing, text
messaging, video gaming, online friendships, Facebook friendships, phone calling, and watching
television in addition to four attitude-based subscales: positive attitudes, negative attitudes,
technological anxiety/dependence, and attitudes toward task-switching. All subscales showed
strong reliabilities and relationships between the subscales and pre-existing measures of daily
media usage and Internet addiction were as predicted. Given the reliability and validity results, the
new Media and Technology Usage and Attitudes Scale was suggested as a method of measuring
media and technology involvement across a variety of types of research studies either as a single
60-item scale or any subset of the 15 subscales.

Keywords
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Technology and media usage; Anxiety; Attitudes toward technology; Smartphone; Video gaming;
Facebook

1. Introduction
Until recently, before mobile computer technologies became the norm, measuring media and
technology use most often involved monitoring hours and minutes spent doing various
computer activities (Kraut et al., 1998; Stanger & Gridina, 1999; Subrahmanyam, Kraut,
Greenfield, & Gross, 2000), watching television (Stanger, 1998), playing video games
(Phillips, Rolls, Rouse, & Griffiths, 1995) or some combination of those activities (Media

© 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

*
Corresponding author. Address: Department of Psychology, California State University, Dominguez Hills, Carson, CA 90747, United
States. Tel.: +1 310 243 3427; fax: +1 619 342 1699. [email protected] (L.D. Rosen).
 Rosen et al. Page 2

Metrix, 1999; Nielsen Media Research, 1999). In the pioneering Home-Net Study, for
example, Kraut et al. (1998) reported Internet use in hours per week. Similarly, in a widely
quoted study, the Kaiser Family Foundation (Rideout, Foehr, Roberts, & Brodie, 1999)
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reported a national sample of children ages 2- to 18-year-old children’s daily television,

movies, computers, music, video games, and radio use in hours and minutes.

Those measurements were only possible because technology interaction—particularly

computer use and online activities—was primarily accomplished on stationary devices
including desktop and laptop computers or video game consoles. The advent of portable
technology—including MP3 players, smartphones and other wireless mobile devices—
changed the landscape so that nearly any activity that can be performed on a desktop or
laptop machine can also be performed on a small, pocket size device. With a Wi-Fi enabled
mobile device, people can access the Internet, e-mail, text, and use applications that can do
most traditional computing activities anywhere and at any time of the day or night and
research shows that people are doing just that. A recent national study of 7446 18- to 44-
year-old smartphone users (IDC, 2013) found that nearly eight in 10 adults and nine in ten
young adults reach for their phone within 15 min of waking. Other research (Oulasvirta,
Rattenbury, Ma, & Raita, 2012) has demonstrated that adults typically access their
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smartphones for an average of 34 daily short durations (less than 30 s) while another
national study (Mobile Mindset, 2012) showed that 58% of US smartphone users check their
phones at least every hour, and 73% feel panicked if they misplace their phone. In a study on
Japanese students’ cell phone and text message use, Kamibeppu and Sugiura (2005) found
that almost half of the respondents experienced a feeling of insecurity when their text
messages went unanswered. The students developed insecurity and a perception of being
ignored, which the authors concluded could cause great anxiety among children.

1.1. Methods for assessing technology usage

A survey of recent research indicates that there are four current methods for assessing
general technology usage including: (1) time measured in hours or minutes per day or per
usage (Becker, Alzahabi, & Hopwood, 2012; Carrier, Cheever, Rosen, Benitez, & Chang,
2009; Junco, 2013; Kimbrough, Guadagno, Muscanell, & Dill, 2012; Padilla-Walker &
Coyne, 2011; Pea et al., 2012; Reich, Subrahmanyam, & Espinoza, 2012; Rideout, Foehr, &
Roberts, 2010; Rosen, Carrier, & Cheever, 2013; Rosen, Chang, Erwin, Carrier, & Cheever,
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2010; Rosen, Whaling, Rab, Carrier, & Cheever, 2013; Turner & Croucher, 2013); (2)
frequency measured in the number uses in a particular time period (Burak, 2012; Johnson,
2010; Thompson, 2013); (3) attitudinal Likert-type scales measured on a continuum from
strongly agree to strongly disagree (Jenkins-Guarnieri, Wright, & Johnson, 2013a, 2013b;
Venkatesh, Thong, & Xu, 2012); and (4) experience sampling, querying use at a particular
prompted point in time (Moreno, Jelenchick, Koff, & Eikoff, 2012a; Moreno, Jelenchick,
Koff, Eikoff, Diermyer, & Christakis, 2012b; Wang & Tchernev, 2012).

Although it is appealing to measure actual time of usage, this has proven problematic. For
example, Junco (2013) compared actual versus self-reported time by first having 45
university students report how many hours and minutes they felt that they accessed
Facebook, Twitter, and their e-mail in addition to how much time they searched for

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information online on a typical day. Following this self-reported time, monitoring software
was installed on their computers and their actual use of these websites was evaluated over a
one-month period. Although the correlations between self-reports and actual time were
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significant and reasonably high (e.g., the correlation between self-reported and actual
Facebook use was .587 and for e-mail it was .628), the estimates were drastically different.
For example, while users self-reported spending an average of 149 min per day accessing
Facebook on their computer, the actual average time, according to the monitoring software,
was 26 min per day. Similar results were found for all time estimates suggesting that users
are not accurate at estimating time they spend on the computer.

1.2. Assessing social media usage

Since the emergence of social media—particularly Facebook—special efforts have been
performed to measure its usage. An early attempt saw the creation of the Facebook Intensity
Scale (Ellison, Steinfield, & Lampe, 2007), which presented six attitudinal statements (e.g.,
“Facebook is part of my everyday activity” or “I would be sorry if Facebook shut down”)
initially as open-ended questions (Ellison et al., 2007) plus an assessment of daily hours and
minutes spent on the site and an accounting of the number of Facebook friends on a 10-point
numerical scale. Later, the attitudinal questions were modified to be closed-ended requiring
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Likert scale responses (Steinfield, Ellison, & Lampe, 2008) and several studies have used
that scale to assess Facebook activities (Clayton, Osborne, Miller, & Oberle, 2013; Ellison,
Steinfield, & Lampe, 2011; Glynn, Huge, & Hoffman, 2012; Jenkins-Guarnieri et al., 2013a,
2013b; Kalpidou, Costin, & Morris, 2011; Kapidzic, 2013; Lampe, Wohn, Vitak, Ellison,
&Wash, 2011; Lou, Yan, Nickerson, & McMorris, 2012; Ross et al., 2009; Tazghini &
Siedlecki, 2013).

Facebook usage has been measured in other ways including daily time spent on the site
(Hunt, Atkin, & Krishnan, 2012; Jelenchick, Eichoff, & Moreno, 2012; Junco, 2012a,
2012b; Karpinski, Kirschner, Ozer, Mellott, & Ochwo, 2013; McAndrew & Jeong, 2012;
Moore & McElroy, 2012; Rosen et al., 2013), number of times logging onto Facebook on a
typical day (Hunt et al., 2012; Junco, 2012a, 2012b; Kittinger, Correia, & Irons, 2012;
Locatelli, Kluwe, & Bryant, 2012; McAndrew & Jeong, 2012; McKinney, Kelly, & Duran,
2012; Moore & McElroy, 2012; Oldmeadow, Quinn, & Kowert, 2012; Rosen et al., 2013;
Skues, Williams, & Wise, 2012; Tosun, 2012; Trepte & Reinecke, 2013), and a raw count or
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assessment of Facebook activities and friends (Clayton et al., 2013; Deters & Mehl, 2013;
Kittinger et al., 2012; Moore & McElroy, 2012; Ong, Ang, Ho, Lim, Goh, Lee, & Chua
2011; Pempek, Yermolayeva, & Calvert, 2009).

1.3. Multitasking and technology usage

Numerous research studies have shown a relationship between preference for multitasking
or task switching as it is often labeled and the use of various technologies (Media Metrix,
1999; Pea et al., 2012; Rideout et al., 1999; Rideout et al., 2010). For example, Rosen et al.
(2013) replicated studies by Gonzalez and Mark (2004), Dabbish, Mark, and Gonzalez
(2011) and Judd and Kennedy (2011) in demonstrating that students and office workers
switched tasks often and the impetus was most often technological in nature such as an
incoming text message or e-mail message or a perceived need to check in with a social

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network site. A recent study by Moreno et al. (2012a, 2012b) reported that when they sent
daily text messages to university students to assess their multitasking activities at random
times during the day and evening, more than half the time they were using the Internet they
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were multitasking. In addition, Carrier et al. (2009) showed that younger people in the Net
Generation believe that they can perform more tasks simultaneously, particularly those that
are technological, than older members of Generation X or Baby Boomers. Based on these
results the proposed measurement tool will include a measure of one’s preference for task
switching or multitasking.

1.4. The Current Study: developing a comprehensive method for assessment

With such a variety of methods for evaluating media and technology usage and attitudes, it
is often difficult to make comparisons across different research studies as each uses its own
measurement tools and most often assesses activities and attitudes in a limited domain. In
addition, many of the current measurement tools were developed far enough in the past that
new technologies have been developed and their usage needs to be assessed. The current
study examined a new, comprehensive measurement tool that incorporates prior models for
assessing self-reported frequency of media and technology use as well as attitudes toward
technology use, rather than relying on inaccurate self-reports of time spent using a variety of
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technologies.

Nearly all studies measuring time spent using technology ask about computer usage in
general or do not differentiate between using the same functions through a variety of
devices, including computers and mobile phones. The current measure was created with
several precepts: (1) it must measure self-reported frequency of use rather than self-reported
time of use; (2) it must include activities performed on computers as well as those on mobile
phones and those on dedicated devices such as televisions, music players, and video game
players; (3) it must include attitudinal scales to capture beliefs about the use of technology
and (4) it must be validated by traditional measures such as self-reported time of use and
Internet addiction.

Through a literature search and pilot studies performed by the researchers, a wide variety of
constructs were gathered about the use of technology which was, through focus groups,
streamlined to include 50 items that spanned usage of all major technologies on a variety of
standard devices. Eighteen additional items that measured attitudes toward technology and
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toward task switching were culled from previous work (Rosen et al., 2013) to form an initial
68-item measurement tool. This tool was evaluated using data from two separate studies
with separate samples to allow an assessment of the validity of the new scales compared to
more traditional measures of self-reported time of use, technological anxiety and Internet
addiction. Two independent studies using online, anonymous survey methodology—one
examining the impact of technology use on magical thinking and the other examining the
impact of technology use on sleep—used sets of items for possible inclusion into the Media
and Technology Usage and Attitudes Scale. Each of those studies also used identical
demographic items as well as items to be used for validity assessment. They will be referred
to as the “magical thinking study” and “sleep study” for clarity. Factor analyses were

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applied to the results from the combined sample to refine a series of subscales based on the
data.
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2. Methods
2.1. Participants
In both studies participants were required to be at least 18 years of age. Both studies allowed
students in an upper division course to participate and/or to solicit participants from the
general community. For the magical thinking study 397 participants completed the entire
online survey without any incomplete or missing data. For the sleep study 545 participants
completed an online survey without any incomplete or missing data. Participants from the
two studies were combined to form a sample of 942 participants of which 62% were female,
ranging in age from 18 to 73 (M = 29.96; Mdn = 25; SD = 12.48), and including the
following ethnic or cultural backgrounds: 9% Asian, 15% Black/African-American, 14%
Caucasian, 55% Hispanic and 7% other. The sample included mainly participants with some
college (51%), or a college degree (32%), 29% of which were employed part-time and 33%
employed fulltime. Overall 49% were single, never married and living with family or
relatives while 31% were married or living with someone in a romantic relationship; 40% of
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the sample participants had a mean of 2.68 children while 60% had no children. Participants
supplied additional demographic information including residence ZIP code, which was
transformed into estimated median income based on U.S. Census figures (U.S. Census
Bureau, 2007–2011). Overall median income averaged $41,004 (SD = 15,007). These
figures match the census figures for the Los Angeles area (U.S. Census Bureau, 2006).

2.2. Materials
2.2.1. Media and Technology Usage and Attitudes Scale (MTUAS)—The
proposed media and technology usage portion of the MTUAS, used in both studies, included
50 items. These items were developed by generating a set of possible technology uses
including activities performed specifically on a mobile phone (searching for information,
browsing the web, using apps, listening to music, taking photos, recording video, reading e-
mail, getting directions or using a GPS, checking text messages, sending and receiving text
messages, using a mobile phone during class or work time, checking voice calls, making and
receiving voice calls, checking the phone in the middle of the night, getting news, use while
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driving), activities performed specifically on a computer (downloading media files,

watching video clips, watching television shows or movies, sharing media files), activities
performed specifically using a television set (watching TV shows or movies, watching video
clips), device-free (non-mobile phone) technological activities (searching the Internet for
information, images, videos, or news; sending and receiving e-mail; checking personal,
work or school e-mail; sending or receiving files via e-mail; playing games with other
people in the same room, playing games alone, playing games with other people online;
listening to music; video chat; texting or instant messaging; shopping), and social
networking activities, which were only answered by those indicating that they had a
Facebook page (checking Facebook and other social networks, checking from a smartphone,
checking from work or school, posting status updates, posting photos, browsing profiles,
reading posts, commenting on posts, clicking like). A 10-item frequency response scale was

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used for these items including: never, once a month, several times a month, once a week,
several times a week, once a day, several times a day, once an hour, several times an hour
and all the time. Five additional questions queried Facebook users on the number of friends
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on Facebook, the number of Facebook friends known in person, the number of people met
online but never met in person, the number of people regularly interacting with online but
never met in person and the number of close friends online never met in person. Each of
these was answered on a 9-point numerical scale including 0, 1–5, 51–100 101–175, 176–
250, 251–375, 376–500, 501–750 and 751 or more.

Eighteen items were included to assess attitudes toward technology with responses on a five-
point Likert scale (strongly agree, agree, neither agree nor disagree, disagree, strongly
disagree). These items included attitudes toward the importance of finding any information
online, the importance of being able to access the Internet any time, the importance of
keeping up with technology, getting anxious without availability of a cell phone, getting
anxious without availability of the Internet, feeling dependent on technology, believing that
technology will provide solutions to our problems, believing that with technology anything
is possible, believing that more gets accomplished due to technology, believing that
technology is easy to use, enjoying using technology as soon as it hits the market, believing
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that technology makes people waste time, believing that technology makes life more
complicated and believing that technology makes people more isolated. Finally, this scale
included four items taken from the Multitasking Preference Inventory (Poposki & Oswald,
2010) such as “I prefer to work on several projects in a day rather than completing one
project and then switching to another.” Items were selected from the original 14-question
inventory (α = .88) by using those with the top four loadings in a factor analysis (Poposki &
Oswald, 2010).

2.2.2. Validity scales—Additional validity items were collected in the sleep study that
allowed for the assessment of the validity of the MTUAS. These included the following:

• Daily media usage hours: Participants were asked nine questions concerning the
amount of time they spent “on a typical day” using 10 forms of media and
technology (going online, using a computer for other than being online, e-mailing,
instant messaging/ chatting, phone calling, social networking, texting, video
gaming, listening to music, and watching television) and one additional question on
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reading books or magazines for pleasure on a daily use scale including: not at all,
1–30 min, 31 min to 1 h, 1–2 h, 3 h, 4–5 h, 6–8 h, more than 8 h. Responses were
transformed into hours of use by converting each response into hours including not
at all (0), 1–31 min (.25), 31 min to 1 h (.75), 1–2 h (1.5), 4–5 h (4.5), 6–8 h (7),
more than 8 h (9).

• Technology-related anxiety: A set of six items were included that asked, “If you
can’t check in with the following technologies as often as you’d like, how anxious
do you feel?” The list of technologies included: text messages, cell phone calls,
Facebook and other social networks, personal e-mail, work e-mail and voice mail
and each were assessed on a four-point scale (not anxious at all, a little anxious,
moderately anxious, and highly anxious).

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• Internet Addiction Test: Young’s (1998) short 8-item Internet Addiction Test (IAT)
was used. This measure includes eight yes/no items taken from the DSM diagnostic
criteria for addiction disorders with a higher score indicating more Internet
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addiction. Inadvertently, Item 2 (“Do you feel the need to use the Internet with
increasing amounts of time in order to achieve satisfaction?”) and Item 3 (“Have
you repeatedly made unsuccessful efforts to control, cut back, or stop Internet
use?”) were displayed together with only the option to say “yes” or “no” for both.
A “yes” on that item was scored as indicating two diagnostic criteria met and a
“yes” on any other item was scored as indicating one diagnostic criterion met. IAT
scores were treated as a bivariate variable with a score of “5” or more indicating an
Internet addiction disorder as noted by Young (1998).

3. Results
3.1. Factor structure of the Media and Technology Usage and Attitudes Scale (MTUAS)
The 50 media usage items were subjected to a varimax-rotated factor analysis using the
assumption that the factors would and should be intercorrelated as they all represent uses of
similar technologies. Using a factor loading cutoff of .55 and an eigenvalue of 1.0, the
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analysis yielded 11 usable factors, which included 44 of the items. These are displayed in
Tables 1 and 2 and in the Appendix. These 11 factors, which accounted for 68% of the
variance, were easily identifiable as representing 11 daily media uses including smartphone
usage (9 items accounting for 11.94% of the variance), general social media usage (9 items;
11.61%), Internet searching (4 items; 7.15%), e-mailing (4 items; 6.94%), media sharing (4
items; 5.81%), text messaging (3 items; 5.56%), video gaming (3 items; 4.69%), online
friendships (2 items; 4.23%), Facebook friendships, (2 items; 3.69%), phone calling (2
items; 3.35%), and watching television (2 items; 3.07%). Each factor was computed using
the mean score as all items were scaled on the same frequency scale. Overall, 669
participants (71%) indicated that they had a Facebook page. Those who did not participate in
social networking were removed from three scales: general social media usage, online
friendships and/or Facebook friendships.

The 18 attitudinal items, when subjected to an orthogonal factor analysis with a varimax
rotation, resulted in four factors accounting for 66.13% of the variance. Two items failed to
meet the .55 threshold and were not included in any factor. With this criterion, the first
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factor included six items related to positive attitudes toward technology including the
importance of finding information online on demand, the importance of access the Internet
on demand, the importance of keeping up with technology trends, the assertion that with
technology anything is possible, getting more accomplished with technology, and the belief
that technology will provide solutions to many of our problems. Items were reversed scored
so that higher scores indicated more positive attitudes toward technology. The second factor
included three items reflecting anxiety related to being without a phone or the Internet and
technological dependence, while the third factor included the four task switching items after
reverse scoring one item (“I like to finish one task completely before focusing on anything
else”) and then calculating the mean score with higher scores indicating a stronger
preference to task switch. Finally the fourth factor included three items reflecting negative

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attitudes toward technology including technology wasting time, technology making people
more isolated, and technology being too complicated. Items for two subscales were reversed
scored so that higher scores indicated more technology anxiety and dependence and more
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negative attitudes toward technology, respectively. Each factor was computed using the
mean score as all items were measured on the same scale.

Table 3 displays the means, standard deviations, skewness scores and Cronbach’s alpha
coefficient of all 15 subscales. All subscales had acceptable to excellent reliabilities. Only
two subscales had suspect skewness scores: video gaming (1.13) and online friendships
(2.45). In each case the positive skewness was due to a larger percentage of nonusers or
infrequent users and a few participants who played video games very often or who reported
a large number of online friendships. Both variables were examined as the skewed raw
averages and also after splitting the averages into approximate thirds; all analyses of these
two scales were performed with the raw scores as well as the tertile splits. Note that based
on the mean scores across all participants the most commonly used technologies were text
messaging, phone calling, emailing and Internet searching, respectively.

3.2. Demographic differences

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Comparisons were made between each demographic—gender, age, ethnic background,

education, employment, living situation and median income—and the 15 subscales of the
Media and Technology Usage and Attitude Scale.

3.2.1. Gender—Across all these demographics only four significant two-tailed differences
were apparent with males (M = 3.63; SD = 2.63) playing video games more often than
females (M = 3.06; SD = 2.35; t(940) = 3.44, p < .001); males (M = 2.06; SD = 1.25) having
significantly more online friends than females (M = 1.79, SD = 1.11; t(940) = 2.91, p = .
004); males (M = 4.14; SD = 2.38) doing significantly more media sharing than females (M
= 3.52, SD = 2.19; t(543) = 2.55, p = .011); and females (M = 3.25; SD = 1.09) having
significantly less technological anxiety and dependency than males (M = 3.00, SD = 1.08;
t(940) = 2.55, p = .011). Using the third split variables indicated that a higher percentage of
males were in the top third of video game playing frequency [χ2 (2, N = 942) = 15.51, p < .
001] as well as in the top third of online friendships [χ2 (2, N = 669) = 8.04, p < .018].

3.2.2. Age—Table 4 displays the correlations between the subscales and age. As is
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apparent, older people showed significantly lower daily use of all media/technology items
with the exception of online friendships and general Facebook usage. When treated as a
tertile split, there was no significant age difference among the top, middle and bottom thirds
of online friendships [F(2, 666) = .64, p > .05] but there was a significant age difference
between tertiles of video gaming [F(2, 939) = 30.93, p < .001] with lower third (mean age =
34.28) significantly older than those in the middle third (M = 27.96) and the top third (M =
27.54). In addition, older people showed less positive attitudes toward technology and were
less anxious about not checking in with technology but age was not correlated with
preference for task switching or negative attitudes toward technology.

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3.2.3. Ethnic background—Oneway ANOVAs were used to assess ethnic background

differences on the subscales. Only three subscales demonstrated significant differences with
both the omnibus F-test and a posthoc Scheffe Test: online friendships [F(3, 614) = 5.92, p
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< .001; Black (M = 2.33) significantly higher than Asian (M = 1.64) and Hispanic (M =
1.83)]; voice calls [F(3, 868) = 3.19, p = .023; Black (M = 6.89) significantly higher than
Asian (M = 6.10)]; and negative attitudes toward technology [F(3, 491) = 3.44, p = .017;
Caucasian (M = 3.60) significantly higher than Black (M = 3.11)].

3.2.4. Education—Education level was correlated with several subscales including:

smartphone usage (r = .14, p < .001), Internet searching (r = .20, p < .001), e-mailing (r = .
25, p < .001), media sharing (r = .08, p = .011), text messaging (r = .19, p < .001), voice
calls (r = .13, p < .001), positive attitudes (r = .21, p < .001), and technological anxiety (r = .
19, p < .001). In all cases, more educated participants showed higher scores.

3.2.5. Employment—Part-time employees showed significantly higher scores than either

full-time employees or unemployed (mostly students) on the following subscales:
smartphone usage, general Facebook use, Internet searching, media sharing, e-mailing,
texting, Facebook friends, voice calling and anxiety.
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3.2.6. Living situation—Single/unmarried participants showed significantly higher scores

than either married participants or separated/divorced/widowed participants on the following
subscales” smartphone usage, Internet searching, e-mailing, media sharing, text messaging,
video game playing, Facebook friendships and anxiety.

3.2.7. Median income—Using a one-tailed test, median income was significantly

correlated with only general social media use (r = .07, p = .039) indicating that those who
had a higher median income used social media more often.

3.3. Facebook users vs. nonusers

Table 5 displays the comparisons between Facebook users and nonusers on the 12 relevant
subscales completed by all participants and, thus, did not include the Facebook usage, online
friendships and Facebook friends subscales. As is evident, Facebook users showed
significantly more use of nearly all technologies except for television viewing. When
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examining the tertile split in video gaming, Facebook users were more likely to be in the top
and middle third while nonusers were more likely to be in the bottom third [χ2 (2, N = 942)
= 58.27, p < .001]. In addition, Facebook users showed significantly more positive attitudes
and less negative attitudes toward technology but also significantly higher anxiety about not
checking in often enough with technology. There was no difference in multitasking
preferences between Facebook users and nonusers. A discriminant function analyses was
performed using the eight relevant media usage factors (not including the three that relate to
social media use, Facebook friendships or online friendships) as potential discriminators
between Facebook users and nonusers. Results indicated a significant discriminant function
[χ2 (8, N = 942) = 132.59, p < .001] with the three highest canonical discriminant function
coefficients (beta weights) attributed to: text messaging (.632), Internet searching (.338) and
e-mailing (.308). No other coefficient exceeded .175. When the attitudes subscales were

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included (which were only collected in the sleep study) the discriminant function analysis
showed similar results with the reduced sample [χ2 (12, N = 545) = 150.64, p < .001] with
the top beta weights belonging to text messaging (.530) followed by Internet searching (.
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245), and media sharing (.211). All other beta weights were below .180.

3.4. Multitasking and technology usage

Research has demonstrated a positive relationship between technology use and multitasking.
Correlations were computed between the preference for task switching subscale and the 11
usage scales of which eight were significant in the predicted direction. Those participants
who preferred to task switch showed more usage of smartphones (r = .10, p < .05), more
general Facebook usage (r = .14, p < .01), more Internet searching (r = .14, p < .001), more
e-mail use (r = .14, p < .001), more media sharing (r = .11, p < .05), more text messaging (r
= .10, p < .05), more video gaming (r = .10, p < .05) and more phone calling (r = .09, p < .
05). Those who preferred to task switch more often also showed more anxiety about not
checking in often enough with technology (r = .21, p < .001) and less positive attitudes (r = .
19, p < .001).

3.5. Validity assessment

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3.5.1. Daily media usage hours—Several measures were collected in the sleep study
that allowed an examination of the validity of the 15 subscales. A set of questions queried
the hours per day that the participant typically used a variety of media and technologies. The
top two correlations between these measures of media and technology usage and the new
subscales are presented in Table 6. As can be seen, nearly all the top two correlations are the
ones that would have been predicted. For example, those who self-reported watching
television for more daily hours had a higher frequency of watching television in the
MTUAS. This result was also evident for other activities including texting, video game
playing, e-mailing, social networking, phone calling and media sharing. One noteworthy
result is that those who used smartphones more often spent more hours texting and social
networking, which are the two most common smartphone activities.

3.5.2. Technology-related anxiety—Table 7 displays the correlations between each of

the subscales and anxiety about not checking in often enough with six different
communication technologies. As is evident, with the exception of television viewing, the
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subscales were all correlated with at lest two areas of anxiety and most correlated with four
or five of the six anxiety items. The fact, for example, that those who used smartphones
more showed more anxiety about missing out on text messages and social networks shows
validity for this subscale as those are the two main activities that are performed with
smartphones. Similarly, the Facebook usage scale was most highly correlated with anxiety
about not checking in often enough with social networks and similar results were seen for
each subscale with the most anxiety reported by people who used that communication
function the most.

3.5.3. Internet Addiction Test—The Internet Addiction Test yielded a bivariate variable
where those participants with five or more signs of Internet addiction (n = 64; 22%) could be
compared to those with fewer than five signs (n = 230; 78%). From the MTUAS, an

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 Rosen et al. Page 11

independent t-test indicated that those who were more likely to be addicted to the Internet
were those who: used Internet searching more often [t(292) = −1.96, p < .05]; shared media
more often [t(292) = −3.41, p < .001]; and played video games more often [t(292) = −2.21, p
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< .05] all three activities that have been linked to Internet addictive behaviors. The only
other variable showing a significant difference between those addicted and those not
addicted was anxiety about being without technology and dependence on technology [t(292)
= −3.83, p < .001]. This latter result shows strong validity as these anxieties and
dependencies are reflective of items in the IAT.

4. Discussion
Attempts to measure media and technology usage have been widespread and no single
measurement tool has been adopted by more than a handful of studies. This makes it
difficult to compare results across studies. The current study was designed to develop a tool
that could fill that gap and be used across research paradigms in different fields. The initial
tool included two parts: a pool of items assessing frequency of usage of various technologies
and media and a smaller pool of items assessing attitudes toward technology and toward task
switching. The latter items—assessing one’s attitude toward either completing one task
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before moving to another or working on one task and then switching to another before its
completion—have been shown in previous research to relate to technology usage (Rosen et
al., 2013). The resultant 60-item measurement tool—the Media and Technology Usage and
Attitudes Scale—includes 15 subscales, 11 measuring usage and four assessing attitudes.
The subscales can be used together or separately as they are internally reliable and
externally valid.

The 11 usage subscales of the new measure provide a solid mixture combining the use of
older technologies such as television with newer technologies such as smartphones as well
as separating device-based assessments (e.g., smartphone usage subscale, television viewing
subscale) from device-free assessments (e.g., Internet searching subscale, e-mailing
subscale). They are also phrased in such a manner as to make them available for new items
as new technologies emerge.

Three of the 11 usage subscales also involve social networking with two subscales relating
directly to Facebook usage and one to generic online friendships. This is of extreme
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importance given the nearly ubiquitous use of Facebook as the current social network (Smith
2012). When Facebook users and nonusers were compared they showed strong differences
on individual subscales of the MTUAS, painting a picture of social media users as
consumers of other media and technology—with the exception of television—and
possessing both positive attitudes, but also anxieties about missing out on technology as well
as feeling dependent on technology. Although two subscales directly relate to Facebook, the
individual items can be modified to fit any social networking site or application that may
arise in the future.

The MTUAS also offers the inclusion of four attitude-based subscales including both
positive and negative attitudes toward technology in general rather than toward any specific
technologies as well as attitudes that reflect anxiety and dependence on technology and

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 Rosen et al. Page 12

preferences for task switching over task completion. The addition of these four subscales
makes the MTUAS a robust measurement tool as it includes both frequency of usage and
attitudes toward that usage where the attitudes expressed are independent of the specific
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form of technology being used. Again, the MTUAS can be used with or without the
attitudinal items.

The 15 subscales of the MTUAS showed strong reliability and validity. In every case when
assessing the validity of individual subscales there was a stronger correlation with the
predicted subscale and daily media usage, anxiety about not checking in often enough and
Internet addiction. This supports the power and stability of the MTUAS. In addition to the
direct validity and reliability assessment, the 15 MTUAS subscales were also examined as a
function of the sample demographics. As expected, the subscale differences were exactly
those that one would expect from past research. For example, males were more active in
video gaming and media sharing, older people used less technology than younger people,
and more highly educated people used more technology than less highly educated people.

One interesting side note is the lack of correlations between median income, as measured by
residence ZIP code, and 14 of the 15 subscales with only social media showing a small
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significant correlation. This result suggests that the once prevalent “digital divide” may no
longer be as strong (Zickuhr & Smith, 2012).

4.1. Limitations
This study was done with participants comprised a self-selected sample of convenience from
urban Southern California and, as such, was comprised of a unique mixture of cultural
backgrounds that may not generalize to other settings. However, the fact that there were
very few differences in ethnic backgrounds on the 15 subscales supports the use across any
sample. In addition, the residence-based median income assessment showed that the sample
was firmly middle class with a range of incomes spanning the typical census figures. The
current study also has several other obvious limitations including: (1) combining samples
from two different but similar research projects, (2) using online survey methodology to
collect data and (3) being collected through university classroom participation and friends
and family of those same students. Additional studies with different samples, collected from
different parts of the country or the world, should be done to further validate the MTUAS.
Further, although validity was assessed with concurrently collected measures of time spent
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using various technologies, technology-related anxiety, and Internet addiction, future

research should consider validating the measurement tool with actual usage measured
similar to that done by Junco (2013). In addition to Junco’s software monitoring system,
research should also assess mobile device usage, which is more difficult to assess as many
users simply check in briefly with their social media, electronic communication, and
information apps, taking in the necessary information in a matter of seconds. Any
smartphone monitoring system must account for both frequency and time of access to
provide validity information for the new measurement tool.

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 Rosen et al. Page 13

Acknowledgements
Thanks to the George Marsh Applied Cognition Laboratory for their work on this project. Sincere appreciation to
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the National Institutes of Health Minority Access to Research Careers Undergraduate Student Training in Academic
Research Program (MARC U*STAR Grant No. GM008683) for supporting Ms. Kelly Whaling.

Appendix A

Media. and Technology Usage and Attitudes Scale (60 items)

Usage. subscales
This scale includes 44 items which comprise 11 subscales: Smartphone Usage (9 items),
General Social Media Usage (9 items), Internet Searching (4 items), E-Mailing (4 items),
Media Sharing (4 items), Text Messaging (4 items), Video Gaming (3 items), Online
Friendships (2 items), Online Friendships (2 items), Facebook Friendships (2 items), Phone
Calling (2 items) and TV Viewing (2 items)

10-point frequency scale for items 1–40 (with scoring in parentheses):

Never (1)
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Once a month (2)

Several times a month (3)

Once a week (4)

Several times a week (5)

Once a day (6)

Several times a day (7)

Once an hour (8)

Several times an hour (9)

All the time (10)

Please indicate how often you do each of the following e-mail activities on any device
(mobile phone, laptop, desktop, etc.)
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1. (E-mailing subscale) Send, receive and read e-mails (not including spam or junk
mail).

2. (E-mailing subscale) Check your personal e-mail.

3. (E-mailing subscale) Check your work or school e-mail.

4. (E-mailing subscale) Send or receive files via e-mail.

Please indicate how often you do each of the following activities on your mobile phone.

5. (Text messaging subscale) Send and receive text messages on a mobile phone.

6. (Phone calling subscale) Make and receive mobile phone calls.

7. (Text messaging subscale) Check for text messages on a mobile phone.

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 Rosen et al. Page 14

8. (Phone calling subscale) Check for voice calls on a mobile phone.

9. (Smartphone usage subscale) Read e-mail on a mobile phone.

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10. (Smartphone usage subscale) Get directions or use GPS on a mobile phone.

11. (Smartphone usage subscale) Browse the web on a mobile phone.

12. (Smartphone usage subscale) Listen to music on a mobile phone.

13. (Smartphone usage subscale) Take pictures using a mobile phone.

14. (Smartphone usage subscale) Check the news on a mobile phone.

15. (Smartphone usage subscale) Record video on a mobile phone.

16. (Smartphone usage subscale) Use apps (for any purpose) on a mobile phone.

17. (Smartphone usage subscale) Search for information with a mobile phone.

18. (Text messaging subscale) Use your mobile phone during class or work time.

How often do you do each of the following activities?

19. (TV viewing subscale) Watch TV shows, movies, etc. on a TV set.

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20. (TV viewing subscale) Watch video clips on a TV set.

21. (Media sharing subscale) Watch TV shows, movies, etc. on a computer.

22. (Media sharing subscale) Watch video clips on a computer.

23. (Media sharing subscale) Download media files from other people on a
computer.

24. (Media sharing subscale) Share your own media files on a computer.

25. (Internet searching subscale) Search the Internet for news on any device.

26. (Internet searching subscale) Search the Internet for information on any device.

27. (Internet Searching Subscale) Search the Internet for videos on any device.

28. (Internet searching subscale) Search the Internet for images or photos on any
device.
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29. (Video gaming subscale) Play games on a computer, video game console or
smartphone BY YOURSELF.

30. (Video Gaming Subscale) Play games on a computer, video game console or
smartphone WITH OTHER PEOPLE IN THE SAME ROOM.

31. (Video gaming subscale) Play games on a computer, video game console or
smartphone WITH OTHER PEOPLE ONLINE.

Do you have a Facebook account? If the answer is “yes,” continue with item 32; if “no”,
skip to the Attitudes subscales below. NOTE: The word “social media” may be substituted
for Facebook in the question stem above and in items 32–34.

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 Rosen et al. Page 15

How often do you do each of the following activities on social networking sites such as
Facebook?
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32. (General social media usage subscale) Check your Facebook page or other
social networks.

33. (General social media usage subscale) Check your Facebook page from your
smartphone.

34. (General social media usage subscale) Check Facebook at work or school.

35. (General social media usage subscale) Post status updates.

36. (General social media usage subscale) Post photos.

37. (General social media usage subscale) Browse profiles and photos.

38. (General social media usage subscale) Read postings.

39. (General social media usage subscale) Comment on postings, status updates,
photos, etc.

40. (General social media usage subscale) Click “Like” to a posting, photo, etc.
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Please answer the following questions about your Facebook and other online friends. NOTE:
In items 41 and 42 the words “social media” (or any specific social media site) may be
substituted for Facebook.

9-point scale for items 37–40 (with scoring in parentheses:

0 (1)

1–50 (2)

51–100 (3)

101–175 (4)

176–250 (5)

251–375 (6)

376–500 (7)
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501–750 (8)

751 or more (9)

41. Facebook friendships subscale) How many friends do you have on Facebook?

42. (Facebook friendships subscale) How many of your Facebook friends do you
know in person?

43. (Online friendships subscale) How many people have you met online that you
have never met in person?

44. (Online friendships subscale) How many people do you regularly interact with
online that you have never met in person?

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Attitudes. subscales
These subscales includes 16 items, which comprise four subscales: Positive Attitudes
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Toward Technology (6 items), Anxiety About Being Without Technology or Dependence on

Technology (3 items), Negative Attitudes Toward Technology (3 items) and Preference for
Task Switching (4 items)

5-point Likert scale for all items (with scoring in parentheses)

Strongly agree (5)

Agree (4)

Neither agree nor disagree (3)

Disagree (2)

Strongly disagree (1)

1. (Positive attitudes) I feel it is important to be able to find any information whenever

I want online.

2. (Positive attitudes) I feel it is important to be able to access the Internet any time I
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want.

3. (Positive attitudes) I think it is important to keep up with the latest trends in

technology.

4. (Anxiety/dependence) I get anxious when I don’t have my cell phone.

5. (Anxiety/dependence) I get anxious when I don’t have the Internet available to me.

6. (Anxiety/dependence) I am dependent on my technology.

7. (Positive attitudes) Technology will provide solutions to many of our problems.

8. (Positive attitudes) With technology anything is possible.

9. (Positive attitudes) I feel that I get more accomplished because of technology.

10. (Negative attitudes) New technology makes people waste too much time.

11. (Negative attitudes) New technology makes life more complicated.

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12. (Negative attitudes) New technology makes people more isolated.

13. (Preference for task switching) I prefer to work on several projects in a day, rather
than completing one project and then switching to another.

14. (Preference for task switching) When doing a number of assignments, I like to
switch back and forth between them rather than do one at a time.

15. *(Preference for task switching) I like to finish one task completely before focusing
on anything else.

16. (Preference for task switching) When I have a task to complete, I like to break it up
by switching to other tasks intermittently.
*Scoring for item 15 is reversed with strongly agree = 1 and strongly disagree = 5.

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2012.
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Table 1

Factor loadings for first five daily media usage factors (minimum factor loading .55).

Media usage items Media usage factors

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1 2 3 4 5
Smartphone usage General social media usage Internet searching E-mailing Media sharing
Search for information with a mobile phone .80
Browse the web on a mobile phone .79
Use apps (for any purpose) on a mobile phone .74
Listen to music on a mobile phone .72
Check the news on a mobile phone .69
Take pictures using a mobile phone .66
Record video on a mobile phone .63
Read e-mail on a mobile phone .63
Get directions or use GPS on a mobile phone .62
Read social media postings .85
Comment on social media postings, status updates, photos, etc. .82
Click “Like” to a social media posting, photo, etc. .81
Check Facebook page or other social networks .80
Browse social media profiles and photos .76
Check Facebook at work or school .72
Post social media status updates .66
Check Facebook page from smartphone .65
Post social media photos .60
Search the Internet for informationon any device .81

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Search the Internet for images or photos on any device .73
Search the Internet for news on any Device .72
Search the Internet for videos on any device .72
Send, receive and read e-mails(not including spam or junk mail) .87
Check your personal e-mail .86
Check your work or school e-mail .81
Send or receive files via e-mail .81
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Media usage items Media usage factors

1 2 3 4 5
Smartphone usage General social media usage Internet searching E-mailing Media sharing
Download media files from other people on a computer .78
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Watch video clips on a computer .76

Watch TV shows, movies, etc. on a computer .62
Share your own media files on a computer .61

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Table 2

Factor loadings for second five daily media usage factors (minimum factor loading .55).

Media usage factors Media usage items

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6 7 8 9 10 11
Text Video Online Social media Phone Television
messaging gaming friendships friendships calling viewing
Check for text messages on a mobile phone .72
Send and receive text messages on a mobile phone .69
Use Your Mobile phone during class or work time .59
Play games on a computer, video game console or smartphone WITH OTHER PEOPLE IN THE SAME ROOM .82
Play games on a computer, video game console or smartphone BY YOURSELF .79
Play games on a computer, video game console or smartphone WITH OTHER PEOPLE ONLINE .78
Number of people you regularly interact with online that you have never met in person .80
People have you met online that you have never met in person .74
Facebook friends you know in person .89
Friends you have on Facebook .86
Check for voice calls on a mobile phone .69
Make and receive mobile phone calls .56
Watch TV shows, movies, etc. on a TV set .83
Watch video clips on a TV set .72

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Table 3

Mean, standard deviation, and skewness of subscales.

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Subscale Mean SD Skewness Alpha

Usage subscales

  Smartphone usagea 5.00 2.61 .01 .93

  General Facebook usagea 4.82 2.21 .08 .97

  Internet searchinga 5.64 2.73 .01 .91

  E-mailinga 5.89 2.37 −.23 .91

  Media sharinga 3.76 2.29 .97 .84

  Text messaginga 7.21 2.41 −.85 .84

  Video gaminga 3.28 2.33 1.13 .83

  Online friendshipsb 1.89 1.17 2.45 .83

  Facebook friendshipsb 4.92 1.94 .24 .96

  Phone callinga 6.47 2.06 −.28 .71

  Television viewinga 5.33 2.42 .42 .61

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Attitudes subscales

  Positivec 3.66 .84 −.70 .87

  Anxiety and dependenced 3.15 1.09 −.23 .83

  Negativee 3.35 .92 −.23 .80

  Multitasking preferencef 3.25 .92 −.05 .85

a
Scale ranges from 1 to 10 with higher numbers indicating more daily usage.
b
Scale ranges from 1 to 10 with higher numbers indicating more friendships.
c
Scale ranges from 1 to 5 with higher scores indicating more positive attitudes toward technology.
d
Scale ranges from 1 to 5 with higher scores indicating more technological anxiety and dependence.
e
Scale ranges from 1 to 5 with higher scores indicating more negative attitudes toward technology.
f
Scores range from 1 to 5 with lower scores indicating increased preference for task switching.
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Table 4

Correlations between all subscales and participant age.

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Subscale r p-value
Usage subscales
  Smartphone usage −.37 <.001
  General Facebook usage −.07 .083
  Internet searching −.32 <.001
  E-mailing −.25 <.001
  Media sharing −.27 <.001
  Text messaging −.45 <.001
  Video gaming −.21 <.001
  Online friendships −.04 .355
  Facebook friendships −.19 <.001
  Phone calling −.12 <.001
  Television viewing −.10 <.005
Attitudes subscales
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  Positive .21 <.001

  Anxiety and dependence −.29 <.001
  Negative −.03 .482
  Multitasking preference .03 .465
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Table 5

Comparison between Facebook users (n = 669) and nonusers (n = 273) on all relevant subscales.
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Subscale Users mean Nonusers mean t-score

(SD) (SD)

Usage subscalesa
  Smartphone usage 5.42 (2.44) 3.95 (2.72) 8.10***
  Internet searching 6.13 (2.50) 4.46 (2.92) 8.82***
  E-mailing 6.29 (2.07) 4.90 (2.75) 8.49***
  Media sharing 4.02 (2.25) 3.11 (2.25) 5.68***
  Text messaging 7.71 (2.00) 6.00 (2.86) 10.38***
  Video gaming 3.51 (2.49) 2.70 (2.35) 4.61***
  Phone calling 6.65 (1.88) 6.05 (2.41) 4.07***
  Television viewing 5.35 (2.40) 5.27 (2.48) 0.48
Attitudes subscales

  Positiveb 3.85 (.70) 3.26 (.95) 8.15***

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  Anxiety and Dependencec 3.39 (.97) 2.67 (1.16) 7.63***

  Negatived 3.23 (.90) 3.58 (.92) −4.26***

  Multitasking Preferencee 3.22 (.91) 3.31 (.93) −1.11

***
p < .001.
a
Scale ranges from 1 to 10 with higher numbers indicating more daily usage.
b
Scale ranges from 1 to 5 with higher scores indicating more positive attitudes toward technology.
c
Scale ranges from 1 to 5 with higher scores indicating more technological anxiety and dependence.
d
Scale ranges from 1 to 5 with higher scores indicating more negative attitudes toward technology.
e
Scores range from 1 to 5 with lower scores indicating increased preference for task switching.
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Table 6

Top two correlations between MTUAS subscales and daily hours using media and technology (all correlations
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are significant at p < .001 unless otherwise noted).

Subscale Top Second

Usage subscales
  Smartphone usage Texting (.46) Social network (.45)
  General Facebook usage Social network (.51) Online (.37)
  Internet searching Online (.48) Social Network (.45)
  E-mailing E-mail (.48) Computer (.40)
  Media sharing Games (.36) Online (.36)
  Text messaging Texting (.61) Social network (.43)
  Video gaming Video games (.57) Online (.41)
  Online friendships Video games (.31) Social network (.19)
  Facebook friendships Texting (.31) Social network (.19)
  Phone calling Phone calling (.27) E-mail (.22)
  Television viewing TV (.41) IM/Chat (.20)
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Attitudes subscales
  Positive Online (.29) Social network (.27)
  Anxiety and dependence Social network (.35) Online (.30)
  Negative IM/Chat (−.16) E-mail (−.16)
  Multitasking preference Online (−.16) E-mail (−.12a)

a
p = .004.
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Table 7

Correlations between MTUAS subscales and anxiety about not being able to check in with various technologies.

Subscale Anxiety about not checking in often enough with specific media/technology
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Text messages Phone calls Social networks Personal E-mail Work/school E-mail Voice mail

Media usage subscalea

  Smartphone usage .44*** .19*** .33*** .17*** .17*** .09*
  General Facebook usage .35*** .23*** .44*** .19*** .08 .04

  Internet searching .32*** .16*** .30*** .30*** .24*** .04

  E-mailing .24*** .17*** .15*** .36*** .38*** .12**

  Media sharing .27*** .14** .28*** .21*** .18*** .07

  Text messaging .51*** .27*** .29*** .18*** .23*** .07

  Video gaming .24*** .10* .27*** .16*** .09* .06

  Online friendships .08 .05 .22*** .14** .08 .10

  Facebook friendships .31*** .08 .17** .03 −.04 .01

  Phone calling .20*** .30*** .12** .20*** .14** .26***

  Television viewing .06 .05 .09* .04 .00 .03

Attitude subscale

  Positiveb .36*** .29*** .28*** .28*** .21*** .13**

  Anxiety and dependencec .57*** .46*** .46*** .36*** .28*** .16***

  Negatived −.17*** −.17*** −.21*** −.17*** −.08* −.09*

  Multitasking preferencee −.16*** −.12** −.13** −.17*** −.16*** −.07

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*
p < .05.
**
p < .01.
***
p < .001.
a
Scale ranges from 1 to 10 with higher numbers indicating more daily usage.
b
Scale ranges from 1 to 5 with higher scores indicating more positive attitudes toward technology.
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c
Scale ranges from 1 to 5 with higher scores indicating more technological anxiety and dependence.
d
Scale ranges from 1 to 5 with higher scores indicating more negative attitudes toward technology.
e
Scores range from 1 to 5 with lower scores indicating increased preference for task switching.
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