Navigating digital tides: attention as a strategic axis
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5585/2025.30123Keywords:
attention, presence, hyperconnectivity, information overload, psychosocial risks, digital well-being, strategyAbstract
Purpose: To examine how attention, understood as conscious focus, full presence, and capacity for discernment, has become a strategic resource in the digital era, in the context of hyperconnectivity, information overload, and psychosocial risks.
Design/methodology/approach: The editorial integrates evidence from neuroscience, strategy, psychology, and digital health, drawing on studies of productivity, well-being, digital technologies, and international reports, with an analytical emphasis on cognitive dynamics and strategic action.
Originality/value: It proposes an expanded understanding of attention as a structuring axis of sustainable performance, conscious leadership, and innovation, demonstrating that presence is an essential condition for navigating complex and dynamic environments.
Findings: The analysis shows that constant interruptions, accelerated pace, and digital monitoring fragment focus, reduce mental clarity, intensify cognitive stress, and undermine strategic decision-making. Evidence indicates that pauses, digital boundaries, and mindfulness restore focus, self-regulation, and analytical capacity in hyperconnected contexts.
Theoretical/methodological contributions: The editorial reinforces that strategy begins with the quality of presence, highlighting the role of attention in perception, prioritization, and strategic learning. It integrates neurocognitive mechanisms and organizational paradoxes to explain how individuals and teams navigate tensions between speed and reflection.
Social/managerial contributions: It demonstrates that protecting human attention is a strategic decision. It points to practices such as balanced workload management, conscious pauses, the right to disconnect, and inner development as pathways to promote digital well-being and organizational health.
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Copyright (c) 2025 Claudia Brito Silva Cirani, Heidy Rodriguez Ramos, Ivano Ribeiro
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