DISPERSED CONCENTRATION AND NOMOPHOBIA IN HIGHER EDUCATION

Abstract

The excessive use of Digital Information and Communication Technologies (DICT) has caused negative impacts on daily relationships at the individual and social levels, directly interfering with mental health and aggravating the emergence of new psychological disorders, especially after the COVID 19 pandemic. The incessant search for sensory and emotional stimuli from the excessive use of these technologies contributed to the development of nomophobia – an anxiety disorder classified as phobic-anxiety disorder related to the fear of being without technologies, especially without access to the internet and social networks. To understand the consequences of this new reality, the present qualitative research sought to analyze how nomophobia and concentrated distraction affect teaching and learning in Higher Education, generating new didactic-pedagogical challenges for educators. The collection of empirical data was carried out from the application of a questionnaire, with open and closed questions to all students of the State University of the Tocantina Region of Maranhão (UEMASUL). 290 responses were obtained. The results indicate that students' attention is constantly diverted during classes due to the indiscriminate use of mobile devices, compromising learning and demanding the development of diversified methodological teaching strategies to minimize the effects in terms of concentrated distraction. Thus, the excessive use of DICT during classes significantly interferes with academic training, compromising the quality and educational emancipation of future professionals, which requires further investigations to identify possible actions regarding the implementation of institutional regulatory frameworks that can mitigate the negative consequences of this context.