Multitasking for teens might not be bad as it seems, claims a study presented at the American Academy of Pediatrics National Conference and Exhibition.

Researchers from the Oregon Episcopal School said contrary to popular belief multitasking leads to poor performance, they've found out the opposite is true.

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Alexandra Ulmer, one of the researchers, said there are high demands for multitasking skills at this age.

Researchers studied 196 females and 207 males ages 10 to 19 to determine the effects of multitasking on the information process of these youngsters. They dug into the daily media habits of the participants and assessed the number of times each participant multitasked.

As part of the study, participants were asked to complete tests to assess their ability to multitask and perform non-multitasking activities.

Researchers found out participants that spent 20 minutes a day multitasking scored low on their media multitasking index.

Meanwhile, those that had high scores on the multitasking index have the ability to multitask for three hours a day or more.

Researchers also said high media multitaskers have the ability to filter distractions but can't focus on a single task.

On the other hand, low multitaskers don't have the ability to filter distractions but can focus better on a single task.

Researchers agree that most people perform best when they focus on one task but there are still people that can perform best when they are multitasking.

Ulmer said digital natives or teenagers that grew up exposed to different multimedia have an enhanced working memory and can function in distracting environments.