Law Commons^™

Reclaiming Attention In The Digital Generation Negotiation, Lauren A. Newell

Law Faculty Scholarship

This chapter considers the relationship between information and communication technologies ("ICTs") and attention and the consequences of this relationship for the "Digital Generation" negotiators of the future. It proceeds in three parts. The first part explores the mechanics of attention and the importance of attention in negotiation. The second part, directed to elder generations of negotiators, aims to help these negotiators understand how ICTs affect the Digital Generation’s attentional capacity. The third part, directed to Digital Generation negotiators, offers practical suggestions for improving their focused attention.

Redefining Attention (And Revamping The Legal Profession?) For The Digital Generation, Lauren A. Newell

Law Faculty Scholarship

With computers, text messages, Facebook, cell phones, smartphones, tablets, iPods, and other information and communication technologies (“ICTs”) constantly competing for our attention, we live in an age of perpetual distraction. Educators have long speculated that constant exposure to ICTs is eroding our ability to stay focused, and recent research supports these speculations. This raises particularly troubling implications for the practice of law, in which being able to pay sustained attention to the task at hand is crucial.

Research also indicates that the brains of today’s young people, the “Digital Generation,” may function differently than the brains of their elders because …