I used an activity similar to the one described below as a discussion starter for the writing courses I teach at St. John’s University:

Is there a wrong time to multitask?

Description:

I told students we were going to watch a video and take a quiz. Each student was to decide if they were going to work to focus on the video OR multitask in that they’d send messages via their phones and/or lap tops. We wrote about multitasking in our notebooks (daybooks) before the activity, and we reflected on the activity as part of the quiz.

Procedures if you want to play along:

1. Decide if you will multitask or work really hard to focus on the video. 
2. Watch the video.
3. Take the quiz.

Love to hear suggestions to improve the activity.

Thanks for participating!