Pedagogy of attention for the twenty-first century: beyond a psychological perspective

Abstract

Information and communication technologies (ICT) have undoubtedly changed our world and the ways we live in it. Nowadays, we are more and better informed as well as having multiple channels for making immediate contact with others. However, this ability to be informed and communicate means there are constant demands on our attention to the extent it becomes distracted or overloaded. By using a document analysis methodology based on critical analysis of texts, this paper aims to provide pedagogical solutions for a capacity for attention at risk of being overwhelmed. To do so, we first describe the current context of interconnection, showing the extent to which it has some advantages, but also drawbacks that point directly at the concept of attention. Secondly, we analyse this concept from a pedagogical perspective. This, on the one hand, leads to psychology and, on the other hand, to philosophy. We show that pedagogy has focused only on the psychological perspective event though the philosophical standpoint is equally vital for education. Finally, we come to the need for a pedagogy of attention for the twenty-first century that reclaims the philosophical conception, which should have never
been forgotten.

This is the English version of an article originally printed in Spanish in issue 274 of the revista española de pedagogía. For this reason, the abbreviation EV has been added to the page numbers. Please, cite this article as follows: Sánchez Rojo, A. (2019). Pedagogía de la atención para el siglo xxi: más allá de una perspectiva psicológica | Pedagogy of attention for the twenty-first century: beyond a psychological perspective. Revista Española de Pedagogía, 77 (274), 421-436. doi: 10.22550/REP77-3-2019-02

Referencias | References

Aguilar, S. (2010). El movimiento de atención: un ejercicio espiritual de cara al mundo. A Parte Rei, 69. Retrieve from http://serbal.pntic.mec.es/~cmunoz11/aguilar69.pdf (Consulted on 2018-07-26).

Andreasson, K. (Ed.) (2015). Digital Divides: The New Challenges and Opportunities of e-Inclusion. London: CRC Press.

Augustine of Hippo (1997). The Confessions. San Francisco: Ignatius Press.

Barkley, R. A. (1997). Behavioral inhibition, sustained attention, and executive functions: Constructing a unifying theory of ADHD. Psychological Bulletin, 121 (1), 65-94.

Barmomanesh, S., & Vodanovich, Sh. (2017). Use of Touch Screen Devices Among children 0-5 Years of Age: Parental Perception. In Shen et al. (Ed.), Proceedings of the 2017 IEEE 21^st International Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work in Design (pp. 121-126). Wellington: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

Bergson, H. (1950). Time and Free Will: An Essay on the immediate data of consciousness. London: G. Allen & Unwin.

Blanchot, M. (1997). Awaiting Oblivion. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.

Blanding, J. (2015). Fans outside the Coolidge Corner Theatre [image]. The Boston Globe. Retrieved from https://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/names/2015/09/16/namesblackmass/CkIX4SdFuqbfNyh84xeamI/story.html (Consulted on 2018-07-22).

Blánquez Fraile, A. (1994). Diccionario Latino-Español. Barcelona: Editorial Sopena.

Brown, A., & Smolenaers, E. (2018). Parents' Interpretations of Screen Time Recommendations for Children Younger Than 2 Years. Journal of Family Issues, 39 (2), 406-429.

Calderwood, C., Ackerman, P. L., & Conklin E. M. (2014). What else do college students “do” while studying? An investigation of multitasking. Computers & Education, 75, 19-29.

Carr, N. (2010). The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains? New York: W. W. Norton & Company.

Corea, C. (2004). Pedagogía y comunicación en la era del aburrimiento. In C. Corea & I. Lewkowicz, Pedagogía del aburrido: escuelas destituidas, familias perplejas. Buenos Aires: Paidós.

Domingues-Montanari, S. (2017). Clinical and psychological effects of excessive screen time on children. Journal of Pediatrics and Child Health, 53 (4), 333-338.

Esquirol, J. M. (2006). El respeto o la mirada atenta: una ética para la era de la ciencia y la tecnología. Barcelona: Gedisa.

García Del Dujo, A., Muñoz Rodríguez, J. M., & Hernández Serrano, M. J. (2015). Medios de interacción social y procesos de (de-re) formación de ciudadanías. Teoría de la Educación. Revista Interuniversitaria, 27 (1), 85-101.

Gumbrecht, H. U. (2004). Production of presence: What Meaning Cannot Convey. Standford: Standford University Press. Han, B. Ch. (2015). The Burnout Society. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

Han, B. Ch. (2018). The expulsion of the Other: Society, Perception and Communication Today. Medford: Polity Press. Hayles, N. K. (2007). Hyper and Deep Attention: The Generational Divide in Cognitive Modes. Profession, 2007 (1), 187-199.

Heidegger, M. (1995). The Fundamental Concepts of Metaphysics: World, Finitude, Solitude. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

Herbart, J. F. (1896). The Science of Education: Its General Principles Deduced from Its Aim. Boston: D. C.

Heath & Co. Publishers. Holton, K. F., & Nigg, J. T. (2016). The Association of Lifestyle Factors and ADHD in Children. Journal of Attention Disorders. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5205565/ (Consulted on 12/11/2018).

Ibáñez-Martín, J. A. (2017). Horizontes para los educadores. Las profesiones educativas y la promoción de la plenitud humana. Madrid: Dykinson.

James, W. (1890). The Principles of Psychology. New York: Henry Holt & Co.

Johnson, A., & Proctor, R. W. (2004). Attention. Theory and Practice. London: Sage Publications.

Kabali, H. K., Irigoyen, M. M., Nunez-Davis, R., Budacki, J. G., Mohanty, S. H., Leister, K. P., & Bonner, R. L (2015). Exposure and Use of Mobile Media Devices by Young Children. Pediatrics, 136 (6). Retrieved from http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/136/6/1044 (Consulted on 2018-1-12).

Kegley, J. A. (2018). Royce on Self and Relationships: Speaking to the Digital and Texting Self of Today. Journal of Speculative Philosophy, 32 (2), 285-303.

Kirk, H., Gray, K., Ellis, K., Taffe, J., & Cornish, K. (2017). Impact of Attention Training on Academic Achievement, Executive Functioning, and Behavior: A Randomized Controlled Trial. American Journal on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, 122 (2), 97-117.

Lauricella, A. R., Wartella, E., & Rideout, V. J. (2015). Young children's screen time: The complex role of parent and child factors. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 36, 11-17.

Lévinas, E. (1979). Totality and Infinity: An Essay on Exteriority. London: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.

Lewkowich, D. (2010). The Possibilities for a Pedagogy of Boredom. Rethinking the Opportunities of Elusive Learning. Journal of Curriculum Theorizing, 26 (1), 129-143.

Noguera, I. (2015). How millennials are changing the way we learn: the state of the art of ICT integration in education. RIED. Revista Iboeroamericana de Educación a Distancia, 18 (1), 45-65.

O'Reilly, T. (2005). What Is Web 2.0 Design Patterns and Business Models for the Next Generation of Software. Retrieved from http://oreilly.com/web2/archive/what-is-web-20.html (Consulted on 2018-07-26).

Peñafiel, M. A., Herrera, S., Ferreccio, F., & David, P. (2016). El uso de pantallas en pediatría y su influencia en el trastorno de déficit atencional. Revista Chilena de Psiquiatría y Neurología de la Infancia y la Adolescencia, 27 (2), 72-77.

Posner, M. I. (2012). Attention In A Social World. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Prieto, M. (2018). La psicologización de la educación: implicaciones pedagógicas de la inteligencia emocional y la psicología positiva. Educación XX1, 21 (1), 303-320.

Rabiner, D. L., Godwin, J., & Dodge, K. A. (2016). Predicting Academic Achievement and Attainment: The Contribution of Early Academic Skills, Attention Difficulties, and Social Competence. School Psychology Review, 45 (2), 250-267.

Rodríguez. J. R. (2014). Usos estratégicos de las TIC. Barcelona: Editorial UOC.

Ronchi, R. (1996). La verdad en el espejo: los presocráticos y el alba de la filosofía. Madrid: Akal.

Schweizer, H. (2008). On Waiting. London and New York: Routledge.

Sigman, A. (2017). Screen Dependency Disorders: a new challenge for child neurology. Journal of the International Child Neurology Association, 17 (119), 1-13. Retrieved from https://jicna.org/index.php/journal/article/view/67/pdf (Consulted on 2018-11-12).

Soprano, A. M. (2014). Cómo evaluar la atención y las funciones ejecutivas en niños y adolescentes. Buenos Aires: Paidós.

Steiner-Adair, C. (2014). The Big Disconnect: Protecting Childhood and Family Relationships in the Digital Age. Nueva York: Harper Collins.

Styles, E. A. (2006). The Psychology of Attention. London: Psychology Press.

Touriñán, J. M., & Rodríguez, A. (1993). La significación del conocimiento de la educación. Revista de Educación, 302, 165-192. Weil, S. (1973). Waiting for God. New York: Harper & Row Publishers.

Wickens, Ch. D., & McCarley, J. (2008). Applied Attention Theory. Boca Raton: CRC Press.

Wu, X., Tao, S., Rutayisire, E., Chen, Y., Huang, K., & Tao, F. (2017). The relationship between screen time, nighttime sleep duration, and behavioural problems in preschool children in China. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 26 (5), 541-548.

Xavier, M. R., & Neves, T. (2014). Por uma vida afetada-afetos, tecnologia e vínculos na contemporaneidade. Revista Eletrônica Inter-legere, 14. Retrieved from https://periodicos.ufrn.br/interlegere/article/view/5293 (Consulted on 2018-11-12).

Zimmermann, A. C., & Morgan, W. J. (2016). A Time for Silence? Its Possibilities for Dialogue and for Reflective Learning. Studies in Philosophy and Education, 35 (4), 399-413.

Author Biography

Alberto Sánchez Rojo has a degree in Philosophy (2009) and a Doctorate with Special Prize in Advanced Pedagogical Knowledge (2016) from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. His main research interest is the theoretical and philosophical analysis of the current educational sphere, essentially considering the changes caused by the presence of information and communication technologies.

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2532-5867

Citación recomendada | Recommended citation

Rojo, A. S. (2019) . Pedagogy of attention for the twenty-first century: beyond a psychological perspective. Revista Española de Pedagogía, 77(274). https://www.revistadepedagogia.org/rep/vol77/iss274/9