12:45 p.m. | Room 5

OFF! is also an option

Anke Lambrechts

The digital age is in full bloom, and in our industry we are working daily to make digital products as efficient as possible. But how efficiently are we actually using all that screen time? Why do we get irritated when someone is online but doesn’t respond right away? And why do we even take our phones to the bathroom? Even in the smallest room we take a screen with us, because everyone is almost always “ON.

With the constant stream of digital stimuli, we risk over-stimulating one part of our brain and thereby losing other parts, such as our ability to focus. In this track, I will take you through my personal quest for attention, with its attendant distractions. Together I want to reflect on the impact of digital stimuli: the inevitable loss of focus and the growing realization that you can only partially control whether you are “ON” or “OFF.

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