What Do Students and Teachers Believe Contributes to Digital Distraction in School?

A combination of digital and non-digital factors triggers digital distraction during learning, whether learning is happening synchronously or asynchronously, at school or remotely from home. Boredom, a well-documented phenomenon within school (Buxton, Adolescents in schools, Yale University Press, 1973; Csikszentmihalyi & Larson, Being adolescent, Basic Books, 1984; Jackson, Life in classrooms, Holt, 1968; Mitchell, Journal of Educational Psychology, 85(3), 424–436, 1993), was well supported through this book’s findings. Other non-digital influences included multitasking and instant gratification (Berdik, Education Digest, 84(1), 40–45, 2018; Berry & Westfall, College Teaching, 63(2), 62–71, 2015), all of which can lead to cognitive overload when learning (Rubinstein et al., Journal of Experimental Psychology. Human Perception and Performance, 27(4), 763–797, 2001; Skok, No teacher without a student … A theoretical analysis and practical implications of educational changes in the era of digital natives. In M. Kowalczuk-Walêdziak, A. Korzeniecka-Bondar, W. Danilewicz, & G. Lauwers (Eds.), Rethinking teacher education for the 21st century: Trends, challenges, and new directions (pp. 111–126). Verlag Barbara Budrich, 2019). Cognitive overload is concerning, especially since it can lead to a variety of emotional and psychological problems such as addiction, general anxiety, separation anxiety, instant gratification, and “fear of missing out” (FOMO). Digital devices inside the learning setting, whether that setting is inside a brick-and-mortar school or remote, compound the potential for these social-emotional issues, leaving students and teachers openly stressed and anxious, which further exacerbates lapses in learning focus and active engagement.