Distraction involves a compulsion to move away, repeatedly and sometimes uncontrollably, from your initial purpose. This behaviour may be motivated from either an internal or external source ³. In today’s digital world, we are starting to realize the importance of developing the skills necessary to counter the negative impact of distraction?

Internal Distraction

"Multi-tasking arises out of distraction itself." – Marilyn vos Savant

What precipitates a distraction when we are lacking the ability to pay attention? There are internal distractions such as hunger, fatigue, illness, worrying, daydreaming, and contingent events, especially in our digital world.

However, the inability to hold one’s attention is mostly due to a low level of internal resistance to outside influences. Internal resistance to distraction in the modern techno world is easily sabotaged by unlimited choices.

When distraction is triggered by a lack of interest, there may also be a lack of motivation or purpose. When intrinsic motivation is low, lack of interest will be high.

When one’s sense of purpose is low, lack of interest will again be high. A person who becomes satiated, or fed up, with a learning task or recreational pursuit may also be vulnerable to an eventual lack of interest. At the tipping point of one’s lack of interest, distractibility becomes more inviting.

External Distraction

Losing interest in an activity or task leads to seeking an alternative interest. The availability of alternatives has never been greater. We have the world wide web at our fingertips.

Boredom thresholds are challenged by the sheer volume of possible distractions we can handle. Screens are everywhere—in the home, in the car, at school, at university, at the sports bar, at the medical centre, in the airport, and in the gym.

External distraction as an escape is all about coping. In this sense, distraction may serve a positive purpose, possibly to avoid stress or conflict. The escape, however, is most likely only a temporary solution.

“An addiction to distraction is the end of your creative production.” - Robin Sharma

Compulsive Distraction

In Griffey’s 2018 article, “The Lost Art of Concentration: Being Distracted in the Digital World,” she raises the connection of distraction to continuous partial attention (CPA) ¹. CPA was a phrase coined by the ex-Apple and Microsoft consultant Linda Stone. Stone (2020) believed:

“...by adopting an always-on, anywhere, anytime, anyplace behaviour, we exist in a constant state of alertness that scans the world but never really gives our full attention to anything.”

Accounting for the idea of CPA, compulsive distraction appears to be labile and habitual. Both distraction and compulsive behavior are extremely reactive and reflexive in nature. Internal and external, as well as hybrid triggers, ignite reactions of behaviour that are not reflective and thoughtful. The “mindfulness” potential is absent.

The brain’s craving for novelty, constant stimulation and immediate gratification creates something called a “compulsion loop ⁴.” Micro-decisions occur in the context of multitasking that include performing two or more activities simultaneously in the digital world or combining digital tasks at the same time as performing nondigital activities. The combination of connectivity and multitasking is shown to be counterproductive and unhealthy in the long term.

Perhaps psychology needs to advance the idea of a “digital mindfulness” for the digital era. What skills would we need to initiate a movement toward a digital mindfulness?

Digital Mindfulness

The skills for improving digital mindfulness are readily available to everyone. We will need to notice our thoughts and sensations more often. To avoid a non-productive automatic response, we will need to disengage and reflect more often. Focusing on our breathing can alleviate tension and the impulse to be reflexive.

Self-managing our reactions is the key skill involved. We will need to determine our level of meaning and satisfaction desired to increase self-awareness in the present moment. A mind body-connection with our environment could assist in controlling the reflexive distraction toward screens.

Mindfulness proposes an increased awareness at any present moment leading to increased attention on activities, minimising distracting thoughts and unconscious habits and behaviours. The use of social media and other digital engagement may include mindless behaviours affecting areas of attention, intention, and attitude as well as increasing stress and frustration.

Digital mindfulness would assist individuals in focusing on one task at a time more often, closing their mind to alternative or distracting tasks. Sophie Leroy (2009) proposed the concept of attention residue when switching between work tasks.

“This residue has a cognitive detrimental impact as the mechanistic nature of multitasking reduces the ability to concentrate on the second task. In addition to cognitive consequences, the concept of attention residue also includes a diminished psychological presence relating to the second task ².” Leroy found that individuals who completed one task while commencing another were less productive due to effects of attention residue.

Individuals who were more successful at regulating their attention with cognitive closure rather than with the completion of the task were able to focus better on the next task. Leroy points to mindfulness as a possible solution to train individuals to have their minds more focused on the present, minimising the attention residue from previous tasks.

We are currently enmeshed in a world of truncation. The short cut is the preferred pathway of interest. Where is the time taken to reflect and create a vision through insight? Through a more reflective digital mindfulness, rather than a reflexive approach, the mitigation of compulsive distraction could be enhanced. Inattentive to the skills for a more mindful utilization of technology, compulsive distraction will continue to impact our purpose, our meaningfulness, and our lives.

References

^{1-Griffey H. (2018). The Lost Art of Concentration: Being Distracted in the Digital World. The Guardian, 14 October, 2018.}

^{2-Leroy, S. (2009). Why is it so hard to do my work? The challenge of attention residue when switching between work tasks. Organizational Behaviour and Human Decision Processes, 109(2), 168–181. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2009.04.002}

^{3-Oraison H., Nash-Dolby O., Wilson B., and Malhotra R. (2020). Smartphone Distraction-Addiction: Examining the Relationship Between Psychosocial Variables and Patterns of Use. Australian Journal of Psychology, Vol. 72, Issue 2, June, 2020, pages 188–198.}

^{4-Schwartz T. (2015). Addicted to Distraction. New York Times, 28 November, 2015.}