The Science of Distraction

Jeff Lacy

Trinity University

San Antonio, TX

clacy@trinity.edu

Compulsive Use of Technology

Compulsive Use of Technology

Information Foraging

Information Foraging

Cognitive Economy

Cognitive Economy

We Are Cyborgs

We Are Cyborgs

Teaching about Tech

Teaching about Tech

Teaching about Tech

On the why and how of distracting technology

• Gazzaley, A. and L. D. Rosen. The Distracted Mind: Ancient Brains in a High-Tech World, 2017.

On teaching technophiles

• Rosen, L. D. “Rewiring Education” in Rewired: Understanding the iGenerationand the Way They Learn, 2010.

• Urgo, J. R. “Teaching to Distraction: Or, Education for the Hell of It” in In the Age of Distraction, 2000.

Other suggested readings

• Levitin, D. J. The Organized Mind: Thinking Straight in the Age of Information Overload, 2017.

• Begley, S. Can’t Just Stop: An Investigation of Compulsions, 2017.

• Alter, A. Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked, 2017.

Jeff Lacy, clacy@trinity.edu

Image credits

• Slide 2: https://stargymarry21.deviantart.com/art/Digital-addiction-

395270311

• Slide 4: https://blog.nature.org/science/2017/09/20/can-pine-squirrels-

change-the-evolution-of-a-forest/

• Slide 6: https://www.flickr.com/photos/39122209@N03/3600207756/

• Slide 8: http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20140924-the-greatest-myths-about-

cyborgs

• Slide 10: http://www.gettingsmart.com/2016/08/how-smartphones-can-make-

smart-students/