Digital Distraction and the Design of Attention

Abstract

Digital technologies have transformed how we work, communicate, relax, and connect. But the scarce resource in modern life is not information; it is the human attention needed to make good use of it. Notifications interrupt us, messages invite immediate response, feeds encourage checking, and workplace tools make us constantly reachable.

The problem is not simply that people lack willpower, or that “screen time” is bad. It is that many digital environments are designed in ways that ask us to monitor, switch, respond, resume, and reprioritize throughout the day.

In this lecture, Professor Duncan Brumby examines how digital systems shape attention, multitasking, interruption, and focus in everyday life. Drawing on Human-Computer Interaction research, cognitive science, lab experiments, observational studies, crowdsourced data, and computational models, the talk explains why multitasking is rarely cost-free, why interruptions can disrupt thought long after they occur, and why digital communication so often makes urgent things feel more important than they really are.

 The lecture is structured around three themes:

1. The science of attention and multitasking
   Attention is limited, selective, and context-dependent. This section introduces the attentional spotlight, dual-task trade-offs, task switching, and the cognitive bottlenecks that make genuine multitasking difficult. It shows why people can adapt intelligently to competing demands, but also why there is no free lunch: when attention is divided, something usually suffers.
2. Interruptions, resumption, and everyday distraction
   Interruptions do not simply steal the time they occupy. They also disrupt the mental structure people have built around a task. Drawing on research on resumption lag, phone notifications, driving, media use, second screening, and self-interruption, this section examines why returning to a task can be difficult and how design can either increase or reduce the cost of interruption.
3. Digital communication and the social life of attention
   Email, messaging, Slack, Teams, read receipts, and constant availability norms make attention management a social problem, not just an individual one. This section explores how digital communication blurs the line between urgency and importance, why people often respond to “urgent trivia,” and how better tools, shared norms, and emerging AI systems might help people protect time for focused work while still supporting collaboration.

The central message is that humans have not suddenly lost the ability to focus. Rather, we now live in environments designed to compete relentlessly for attention. Designing technologies — and workplaces — that respect the scarcity of human attention is one of the key challenges of the digital age.

 Watch a sample of the lecture online: UCL Inaugural Lecture: Digital Distraction

https://youtu.be/n3IU1A6T2G8

About this Lecture

Request this Lecture

To request this particular lecture, please complete this online form.

Request a Tour

To request a tour with this speaker, please complete this online form.

All requests will be sent to ACM headquarters for review.