Empowering College Students to Decrease Digital Distraction Through the Use of Self-Regulated Learning Strategies

Oct 15, 2026

Digital technology offers substantial learning benefits for college students, yet frequent use also creates digital distraction that weakens attention, classroom engagement, and overall learning and academic achievement. Digital distraction includes activities such as internet browsing, watching media, checking messages, reading, emailing, and social media use. The review links these distraction patterns to psychological and motivational factors including anxiety and depression, motivational variables, fear of missing out, emotional numbing, and procrastination, plus overreliance on multitasking. It proposes self-regulated learning (SRL) strategies as an effective approach to reduce distraction. SRL emphasizes forethought, planning, and activation, alongside monitoring, control, and reflection on cognition, motivation/affect, and behavior.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages16

Reading Time40 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Digital Distraction and Learning

Technology Trends and Digital Distraction in the Classroom

OPEN ACCESS Review Article Contemporary Educational Technology, 2022, 14(4), ep388 ISSN: 1309-517X (Online) Empowering College Students to Decrease Digital Distraction Through the Use of Self-Regulated Learning Strategies Chih-Hsuan Wang 1* 0000-0002-8361-8062 Jill D. Salisbury-Glennon 1 0000-0002-8122-9477 Yan Dai 1 0000-0003-1170-7776 Sangah Lee 1 0000-0003-2644-6206 Jianwei Dong 1 0000-0002-7736-086X 1 Department of Educational Foundations, Leadership, and Technology, College of Education, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, USA * [Corresponding author:](Corresponding author: wangchi@auburn.edu)[ wangchi@auburn.edu](Corresponding author: wangchi@auburn.edu) Citation: Wang, C.-H., Salisbury-Glennon, J. D., Dai, Y., Lee, S., & Dong, J. (2022) . Empowering College Students to Decrease Digital Distraction Through the Use of Self-Regulated Learning Strategies. Contemporary Educational Technology, 14(3), epXXX. [https://doi.org/10.30935/cedtech/12456](https://doi.org/10.30935/cedtech/12456) ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT | Received: 14 Feb 2022
Accepted: 9 Sep 2022 | Most college students have grown up using technology and consequently, they are proficient with its many uses and applications. The use of this technology provides many benefits to college students’ learning, both in and out of the classroom. However, despite the numerous benefits of technology, these digital activities can also lead to much digital distraction. Digital distractions may include Internet surfing, watching movies, checking texts, reading, and sending emails, and perusing social media. These digital distractions often result in limited attention and engagement during class, as well as less learning and academic achievement overall. Digital distraction can result from such factors as anxiety and depression, motivational variables, the need to keep up and the fear of missing out, emotional numbing and procrastination as well asan overreliance on multitasking. It is suggested here that the use of self-regulated learning (SRL) strategies may be effective in assisting college students in avoiding digital distractions, both in and out of the classroom. SRL strategies include forethought, planning, activation; monitoring, control and reflection on the learner’s cognition, motivation/affect, and behavior. Through the use of these SRL strategies, college students may be taught to decrease digital distractions and, thus, experience higher levels of learning and academic performance.
Keywords: digital distraction, self-regulation, college students, academic achievement | | --- | --- | | INTRODUCTION | | Most traditional college students have grown up during a time of rapid technological advancement, which has resulted in their being referred to as “digital natives”(Moran, 2016) . This generation of college students is accustomed to using smartphones, tablets, or laptops in the classroom. They review class handouts and take notes using laptops or tablets instead of paper and pencil. Further, their learning resources are often posted on a computer-based learning management system such as Canvas or Blackboard. Finally, many college students complete and submit their course assignments, take their exams, and view their grades online. Thus, in many ways, technology has become essential for today’s college students’ learning and academic performance both in and out of the classroom. The McGraw Hill Education Digital Study Trends Survey (2017) reported that 63% of college students used laptops and 55% used cellphones in the classroom to complete their homework or to prepare for their exams. These college students also reported that using technology facilitated their class preparation (48%), increased the efficiency of their studying (47%), helped them to communicate with instructors (47%) and peers (38%), reduced stress related to their schoolwork (35%), and made them feel more confident in their studies overall (30%) . Approximate

FAQs

What kinds of digital distractions are discussed in the review?

Digital distractions include internet surfing, watching movies, checking texts, reading, sending emails, and perusing social media, all of which can pull attention away from course-related tasks.

What factors may contribute to digital distraction?

The review connects digital distraction with anxiety and depression, motivational variables, fear of missing out, emotional numbing and procrastination, and an overreliance on multitasking.

How do self-regulated learning (SRL) strategies help reduce digital distraction?

SRL strategies support students with forethought, planning, and activation, then monitoring, control, and reflection on cognition, motivation/affect, and behavior to help learners decrease distraction both in and out of class.

Oct 15, 2026

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