Distractions and Information Overload: Impact on Kean College Students’ Decision-Making and Critical Thinking
Alyona Kladova
Co-Presenters: Individual Presentation
College: The College of Health Professions and Human Services
Major: Speech-Language Pathology (M.A.)
Faculty Research Mentor: Sharmistha Das Iyer
Abstract:
In today’s highly digitalized world, distractions and information overload are virtually everywhere, weakening critical thinking and rational decision-making. This quantitative study assessed the impact of daily distractions and information overload on college students at Kean University. A Likert scale-based survey recorded participants' responses to questions centered around experiences with digital and environmental distractions, as well as how their critical thinking and decision-making were affected. The results reveal that constant distractions cause brain fog, lower decision-making performance, and less focus on tasks. The study finds that reducing distraction and adding restfulness and mindfulness can increase clarity in thinking and decision-making. Therefore, this finding brings about a need to discover more strategies that regulate the impact of distractions and information overload. Future research should seek a deeper understanding of this dilemma by having a wider range of demographics and a larger participant pool, using experiments that simulate distracting environments to gather richer data.