Empowering College Students to Resist Digital Distractions: A Mixed-Methodological Study of a Training Program and Its Evaluation

Abstract

Regulating digital device usage among college students in the learning context has become increasingly important, as students frequently divert their attention to non-academic activities. Previous research suggests that digital distractions reduce students’ cognitive capacity, adversely affecting their metacognition, learning outcomes, and ability to implement effective self-regulation strategies. Additionally, individuals who misjudge their multitasking ability are prone to off-task behaviors, while intense online vigilance can lead students to automatic multimedia consumption. Consequently, interventions are necessary to help students recognize their attention challenges, reassess their media multitasking ability, and organize self-regulation strategies on their digital devices. This dissertation study developed and implemented a Smart Focus training program to help undergraduate students regulate their digital media multitasking and ensure attention on cognitive processing. Alongside the training implementation, this study evaluated the effectiveness of the training using a mixed-methodological approach. In April and May of 2024, 120 undergraduate students at Auburn University participated in attention knowledge training and a seven-day screen time online journal. Alongside the training evaluation, participants completed anonymous longitudinal Qualtrics surveys on three occasions: a pre-test before the training activities (T1), a post-test after the in-person training (T2), and a second post-test following the seven-day journal (T3). These surveys gathered demographic information and included ten subscales from four instruments: three subscales of perceived attention challenges and two regulation scales from Online Learning Motivated Attention and Regulation Strategies v.2 (OL-MARS v.2); three subscales from the Online Vigilance Scale (OVS); media multitasking self-efficacy (MMSE); as well as the Time and Study Environment Recources Management subscale from the Motivation Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ). Twenty participants participated in online focus groups and shared their training experiences one week after the training. A one-way repeated measures MANOVA was used to analyze the longitudinal differences in the multivariate outcomes across T1, T2, and T3. Post-hoc pairwise comparisons were performed to identify the specific time point at which the differences occurred. Additionally, focus group data were thematically analyzed, and three themes related to participants’ experiences with the Smart Focus training were explored. The longitudinal results demonstrated that the training achieved the majority of its objectives, with nine out of ten indicators showing significant changes following the completion of training. Specifically, the training program effectively enhanced the awareness of problematic media multitasking, decreased media multitasking self-efficacy, reduced the salience and reactibility aspect of online vigilance, encouraged the usage of mental and behavioral regulations and time and environment self-regulation strategies. Participants in the focus groups provided positive feedback about the training organization and offered suggestions for future improvements. Overall, the Smart Focus program serves as a cohesive framework comprising of multiple training activities, which are essential for achieving their objectives, while also allowing for the possibility of combining and implementing the activities separately. Participants perceived the training as helpful and feasible and positively expressed a willingness to continue the exercises and self-regulated strategies. The study also discussed the benefits of training activities in alignment with Pintrich’s (2000) four phases of self-regulated learning strategies and offered insights for future research and training techniques improvement.