The two randomly assigned experimental groups represented low- and high-distraction conditions. In the low-distraction condition, participants were automatically given a new simulated text/post approximately every 60 seconds. The second condition, the high-distraction group, automatically received a simulated text/post approximately every 30 seconds. Students in the low-distraction group viewed roughly 12 texts/posts, while those students in the high-distraction group viewed roughly 24 texts/posts. The actual response to the simulated texts/post was left to the participants.
Prior literature offers little guidance on how often students receive texts/posts during the course of a day, let alone during a class lecture. Survey research indicates that 18- to 24-year-olds send or receive nearly 110 text messages per day, and this is greater than the average of all other age groups combined (Smith, 2011). Given these research findings, responding to 12 or 24 text messages in a short span of time is not outside the usual experience of many students. Though some participants may have found it overly distracting, it is important to note that students were instructed to respond to each interruption as best they could; the texts/posts merely comprised an element of the learning environment.
Lecture
The lecture used in this study lasted roughly 12 min and covered four communication theories: uncertainty reduction theory, social penetration theory, social exchange theory, and relational dialectics theory. Within each theory, the lecture covered four topics: general explanation of the theory, assumptions of the theory, how the theory explains relationship formation, and how the theory explains relationship dissolution. A male instructor not involved in this study was recruited to present the lecture from a script and to have this lecture recorded. Procedures called for each group to view the exact same lecture; thus, the content students viewed did not change, and only the conditions under which they watched the lecture differed (i.e., the group they were assigned to).