Table 4. ICT complexity, spatial context... | Emerald Publishing

Table 4.

ICT complexity, spatial context and attentional experience

Case evidence (interviews and questionnaire)	Context (environment and ICT)	Observed / reported effect on attention and calmness	Interpretation for hybrid project work
Participant A: “mainly tool switching. When I’m juggling teams, miro, WhatsApp, jira – especially at home – it feels like each platform pulls a thread of my attention”	Home; high ICT complexity (multiple tools, frequent switching)	Subjective sense of attention being split across platforms; EEG calmness decreases in high-complexity home sessions	Digital fragmentation is amplified in home settings, where fewer shared cues and more micro-stimuli make multi-tool work more fragile
Participant A: “In the office, the same digital workload feels smoother. The environment has fewer unpredictable variables, and I’m less tempted to micro-multitask”	Office; comparable ICT complexity	Calmness remains relatively stable across low, medium and high ICT complexity in the office	Office rhythms and spatial cues buffer the cognitive load of dense digital work
Participant B: “home is full of micro-stimuli – notifications, family sounds, even positive distractions. When a meeting uses Three or Four tools at once, my attention gets stretched thin. I feel like I’m working in panoramic mode – wide but shallow”	Home; high tool use; multiple parallel stimuli	Subjectively “wide but shallow” focus; tendency towards fragmentation in high-complexity online meetings	Home environments require stronger self-imposed structure to prevent attentional dispersion when ICT intensity rises
Participant B: “the office has a natural rhythm – people move around, conversations flow, but it actually stabilizes me. It nudges me into a work cadence. Even the spatial cues – meeting rooms, whiteboards – help anchor my attention”	Office; moderate to high ICT load within structured setting	Attention experienced as anchored by spatial and social cues; calmness more stable in office sessions	Hybrid design should acknowledge the office as a cognitive scaffold, not just a physical location
Participant C: “One afternoon at home I had a multi-tool workshop – slides, miro, teams chat, Two browser tabs. It was too much. I felt my attention collapse like a wave. Later that week in the office, we held the same workshop, and it felt dramatically more stable”	Same task in Two contexts: home vs office; high ICT complexity	At home: perceived attentional collapse, lower calmness; in office: more stable experience and physiological profile	The cognitive impact of ICT complexity is highly context-dependent; spatial affordances modulate overload
Participant C: “hybrid work gives me freedom, which I value. But the constant context switching – digital, spatial, emotional – adds a layer of fragmentation I didn’t anticipate. The wearable data actually validated that sensation. My body reacts first, long before I consciously feel overloaded”	Hybrid overall; home/office switching; ongoing digital transitions	Experienced fragmentation; early bodily signals of overload precede conscious awareness	Hybrid work combines valued autonomy with a risk of subtle, embodied overload; physiological sensing can surface these early warning signs

Case evidence (interviews and questionnaire)	Context (environment and ICT)	Observed / reported effect on attention and calmness	Interpretation for hybrid project work
Participant A: “mainly tool switching. When I’m juggling teams, miro, WhatsApp, jira – especially at home – it feels like each platform pulls a thread of my attention”	Home; high ICT complexity (multiple tools, frequent switching)	Subjective sense of attention being split across platforms; EEG calmness decreases in high-complexity home sessions	Digital fragmentation is amplified in home settings, where fewer shared cues and more micro-stimuli make multi-tool work more fragile
Participant A: “In the office, the same digital workload feels smoother. The environment has fewer unpredictable variables, and I’m less tempted to micro-multitask”	Office; comparable ICT complexity	Calmness remains relatively stable across low, medium and high ICT complexity in the office	Office rhythms and spatial cues buffer the cognitive load of dense digital work
Participant B: “home is full of micro-stimuli – notifications, family sounds, even positive distractions. When a meeting uses Three or Four tools at once, my attention gets stretched thin. I feel like I’m working in panoramic mode – wide but shallow”	Home; high tool use; multiple parallel stimuli	Subjectively “wide but shallow” focus; tendency towards fragmentation in high-complexity online meetings	Home environments require stronger self-imposed structure to prevent attentional dispersion when ICT intensity rises
Participant B: “the office has a natural rhythm – people move around, conversations flow, but it actually stabilizes me. It nudges me into a work cadence. Even the spatial cues – meeting rooms, whiteboards – help anchor my attention”	Office; moderate to high ICT load within structured setting	Attention experienced as anchored by spatial and social cues; calmness more stable in office sessions	Hybrid design should acknowledge the office as a cognitive scaffold, not just a physical location
Participant C: “One afternoon at home I had a multi-tool workshop – slides, miro, teams chat, Two browser tabs. It was too much. I felt my attention collapse like a wave. Later that week in the office, we held the same workshop, and it felt dramatically more stable”	Same task in Two contexts: home vs office; high ICT complexity	At home: perceived attentional collapse, lower calmness; in office: more stable experience and physiological profile	The cognitive impact of ICT complexity is highly context-dependent; spatial affordances modulate overload
Participant C: “hybrid work gives me freedom, which I value. But the constant context switching – digital, spatial, emotional – adds a layer of fragmentation I didn’t anticipate. The wearable data actually validated that sensation. My body reacts first, long before I consciously feel overloaded”	Hybrid overall; home/office switching; ongoing digital transitions	Experienced fragmentation; early bodily signals of overload precede conscious awareness	Hybrid work combines valued autonomy with a risk of subtle, embodied overload; physiological sensing can surface these early warning signs