WORKPLACES DIGITAL DISTRACTION: PSYCHOLOGICAL DRIVERS OF EXCESSIVE SCROLLING AT SINO UNRAM INTERNATIONAL CENTRE
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.64451/ijees.v1i4.1.2025Keywords:
smartphone use, digital distraction, excessive scrolling, self-regulation, organisational culture, workplace attention, flexible work environmentsAbstract
This study investigates how employees in a highly flexible workplace perceive and manage smartphone use, and how such use shapes their attentional and emotional experiences at work. Drawing on in-depth interviews and non-participant observations at Sino Unram International Centre, the analysis reveals that smartphone use is experienced ambivalently: employees regard smartphones as essential tools for communication and task completion, but also as persistent sources of distraction. The findings identify several interrelated patterns, including habitual checking, intentional checking triggered by notification avoidance, content-specific immersion (particularly in online shopping), and mixed emotional outcomes ranging from momentary relief to post-scrolling exhaustion and mental clutter. These behaviours are driven by boredom, stress, and entrenched habits, and are reinforced by a permissive organisational culture in which smartphone use is normalised and rarely questioned. In the absence of formal rules or monitoring, the burden of regulating digital engagement shifts to individuals, amplifying differences in self-regulatory capacity: some employees maintain functional boundaries, while others become caught in cycles of excessive scrolling. The study contributes to a more nuanced understanding of workplace smartphone use by showing that digital distraction emerges at the intersection of psychological tendencies and organisational conditions, and it suggests that effective interventions should combine respect for autonomy with light structural supports, such as shared digital etiquette and subtle behavioural nudges.
References
A National Survey of Full-Time U.S. Employees. (2019). Digital Distraction in The Workplace.
Baumeister, R. F., Bratslavsky, E., Muraven, M., & Tice, D. M. (1998). Ego depletion: Is the active self a limited resource? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74(5), 1252–1265. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.74.5.1252
Biondi, F. N., Cacanindin, A., Douglas, C., & Cort, J. (2021). Overloaded and at Work: Investigating the Effect of Cognitive Workload on Assembly Task Performance. Human Factors, 63(5), 813–820. https://doi.org/10.1177/0018720820929928
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa
Cappellozza, A., Moraes, G. H. S. M. de, & Muniz, L. M. (2017). Uso Pessoal das Tecnologias no Trabalho: Motivadores e Efeitos à Distração Profissional. Revista de Administração Contemporânea, 21(5), 605–626. https://doi.org/10.1590/1982-7849rac2017160145
Deng, L., Zhou, Y., & Broadbent, J. (2024). Distraction, multitasking and self-regulation inside university classroom. Education and Information Technologies, 29(18), 23957–23979. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-024-12786-w
Deursen, A. J. A. M., Bolle, C. L., Hegner, S. M., & Kommers, P. A. M. (2015). Modeling habitual and addictive smartphone behavior. Computers in Human Behavior, 45, 411–420. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2014.12.039
Duke, É., & Montag, C. (2017). Smartphone addiction, daily interruptions and self-reported productivity. Addictive Behaviors Reports, 6(April), 90–95. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.abrep.2017.07.002
Elpidorou, A. (2018). The good of boredom. Philosophical Psychology, 31(3), 323–351. https://doi.org/10.1080/09515089.2017.1346240
Eze, Chika., R C Nurse, J., & Jassim, H. (2018). Excessive technology use in the post-pandemic context: How work connectivity behavior increases procrastination at work. Computers in Human Behavior, 2, 197–206.
Gardner, B., Lally, P., & Wardle, J. (2012). Making health habitual: the psychology of ‘habit-formation’ and general practice. British Journal of General Practice, 62(605), 664–666. https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp12X659466
Hamilton, K. A., Yamashiro, J. K., & Storm, B. C. (2023). Special issue of applied cognitive psychology: Rethinking cognition in a digital environment. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 37(4), 683–685. https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.4074
Inzlicht, M., Werner, K. M., Briskin, J. L., & Roberts, B. W. (2021). Integrating Models of Self-Regulation. Annual Review of Psychology, 72(1), 319–345. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-061020-105721
Issahaku, H., Abu, B. M., & Nkegbe, P. K. (2018a). Does the Use of Mobile Phones by Smallholder Maize Farmers Affect Productivity in Ghana? Journal of African Business, 19(3), 302–322. https://doi.org/10.1080/15228916.2017.1416215
Issahaku, H., Abu, B. M., & Nkegbe, P. K. (2018b). Does the Use of Mobile Phones by Smallholder Maize Farmers Affect Productivity in Ghana? Journal of African Business, 19(3), 302–322. https://doi.org/10.1080/15228916.2017.1416215
Johannsen, R., & Zak, P. J. (2020). Autonomy Raises Productivity: An Experiment Measuring Neurophysiology. Frontiers in Psychology, 11(May). https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00963
Karimikia, H., Singh, H., & Joseph, D. (2020). Negative outcomes of ICT use at work: meta-analytic evidence and the role of job autonomy. Internet Research, 31(1), 159–190. https://doi.org/10.1108/INTR-09-2019-0385
Karimikia, H., Singh, H., & Joseph, D. (2021). Negative outcomes of ICT use at work: meta-analytic evidence and the role of job autonomy. Internet Research, 31(1), 159–190. https://doi.org/10.1108/INTR-09-2019-0385
Kim, D. G., & Lee, C. W. (2021). Exploring the Roles of Self-Efficacy and Technical Support in the Relationship between Techno-Stress and Counter-Productivity. Sustainability, 13(8), 4349. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13084349
Lazarus, R. , & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, Appraisal, and Coping. Springer.
Le Roux, D. B., & Parry, D. A. (2022). Investigating predictors of online vigilance among university students. Information Technology & People, 35(1), 27–45. https://doi.org/10.1108/ITP-04-2020-0226
Maza, M. T., Fox, K. A., Kwon, S.-J., Flannery, J. E., Lindquist, K. A., Prinstein, M. J., & Telzer, E. H. (2023). Association of Habitual Checking Behaviors on Social Media With Longitudinal Functional Brain Development. JAMA Pediatrics, 177(2), 160. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2022.4924
Mezher, G., Chahine, C., & Khalaf, C. (2023). Smartphone Addiction and Self-reported Productivity among Hospital Health Professionals in Beirut. International Journal of Health Sciences and Research, 13(2), 113–126. https://doi.org/10.52403/ijhsr.20230218
Monsell, S. (2003). Task switching. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 7(3), 134–140. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1364-6613(03)00028-7
Mvuyana, S., Nzimakwe, T. I., & Utete, R. (2025). Exploring the relationship between employee engagement and counterproductive work behaviour. Frontiers in Psychology, 15. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1434350
Nakayama, M., & Chen, C. C. (2022). Digital Distractions and Remote Work: A Balancing Act at Home. Information Resources Management Journal, 35(1), 17. https://doi.org/10.4018/IRMJ.308675
Orhan, M. A., Castellano, S., Khelladi, I., Marinelli, L., & Monge, F. (2021). Technology distraction at work. Impacts on self-regulation and work engagement. Journal of Business Research, 126(January), 341–349. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.12.048
Paas, F., & van Merriënboer, J. J. G. (2020). Cognitive-Load Theory: Methods to Manage Working Memory Load in the Learning of Complex Tasks. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 29(4), 394–398. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721420922183
Piccoli, B., De Witte, H., & Reisel, W. D. (2017). Job insecurity and discretionary behaviors: Social exchange perspective versus group value model. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 58(1), 69–79. https://doi.org/10.1111/sjop.12340
Pinto, J. K. (2014). Project management, governance, and the normalization of deviance. International Journal of Project Management, 32(3), 376–387. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2013.06.004
Priya, D. B., & Subramaniyam, M. (2022a). Fatigue due to smartphone use? Investigating research trends and methods for analysing fatigue caused by extensive smartphone usage: A review. Work, 72(2), 637–650. https://doi.org/10.3233/WOR-205351
Priya, D. B., & Subramaniyam, M. (2022b). Fatigue due to smartphone use? Investigating research trends and methods for analysing fatigue caused by extensive smartphone usage: A review. Work, 72(2), 637–650. https://doi.org/10.3233/WOR-205351
Rozgonjuk, D., Levine, J. C., Hall, B. J., & Elhai, J. D. (2018). The association between problematic smartphone use, depression and anxiety symptom severity, and objectively measured smartphone use over one week. Computers in Human Behavior, 87(April 2019), 10–17. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2018.05.019
Soror, A. A., Hammer, B. I., Steelman, Z. R., Davis, F. D., & Limayem, M. M. (2015). Good habits gone bad: Explaining negative consequences associated with the use of mobile phones from a dual‐systems perspective. Information Systems Journal, 25(4), 403–427. https://doi.org/10.1111/isj.12065
Steel, P., Taras, D., Ponak, A., & Kammeyer-Mueller, J. (2022). Self-Regulation of Slippery Deadlines: The Role of Procrastination in Work Performance. Frontiers in Psychology, 12(January). https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.783789
Throuvala, M. A., Pontes, H. M., Tsaousis, I., Griffiths, M. D., Rennoldson, M., & Kuss, D. J. (2021). Exploring the Dimensions of Smartphone Distraction: Development, Validation, Measurement Invariance, and Latent Mean Differences of the Smartphone Distraction Scale (SDS). Frontiers in Psychiatry, 12(March). https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.642634
Wamsley, E. J., & Collins, M. (2024a). Effect of cognitive load on time spent offline during wakefulness. Cerebral Cortex, 34(2), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhae022
Wamsley, E. J., & Collins, M. (2024b). Effect of cognitive load on time spent offline during wakefulness. Cerebral Cortex, 34(2). https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhae022
Xue, H., Jing, S., Song, X., Zhang, F., Liu, X., & Si, X. (2024). Clinical nurses’ work procrastination and smartphone addiction: a potential profile study. Frontiers in Psychology, 15(July), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1387288
Yao, S., Lu, J., Wang, H., Montgomery, J. J. W., Gorny, T., & Ogbonnaya, C. (2024). Excessive technology use in the post-pandemic context: how work connectivity behavior increases procrastination at work. Information Technology & People, 37(2), 583–604. https://doi.org/10.1108/ITP-08-2022-0573
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Xu Jing, Mujahidin Hasanul Bisri, Ahmad Lani (Author)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
