This paper reports empirical findings from a convergent mixed-method action research study examining teachers’ perceptions of students’ attentional functioning in digitally mediated and hybrid learning environments. Data were collected from 356 in-service teachers through a validated 10-item Likert scale (α = .95) and an open-ended qualitative prompt, and data were analysed using descriptive statistics, Principal Component Analysis (PCA), multiple regression, and thematic analysis.

Results show a strong and homogeneous convergence across school levels and disciplines, with item means ranging from 4.17 to 4.30 (0–5 scale), indicating a widespread perception of significant attentional disruption. Teachers consistently report fragmented and intermittent attention, early cognitive fatigue, high sensitivity to digital stimuli, and rapid engagement–disengagement cycles. PCA identified two latent dimensions explaining 64% of total variance: (1) methodological alternation and cognitive sustainability (41%), highlighting the regulatory role of multimodal, segmented, and recursive instructional design and (2) attentional discontinuity and cognitive overload (23%), reflecting attentional patterns consistent with neurocognitive models of plastic adaptation in high-density digital environments. Regression analyses identify training in digital pedagogy and AI literacy as significant predictors of teachers’ sensitivity in recognising these emerging attentional patterns. Qualitative findings corroborate quantitative results, revealing micro-attentional cycles, embodied signs of overload, emotional–cognitive saturation, and the ambivalent role of technology depending on instructional design.

This study contributes an evidence-based, neuro-pedagogical account of attention as a situated and design-regulable process within onlife cognitive ecologies, empirically bridging teachers’ perceptions, neurocognitive theory, and instructional design. It advances current debates by demonstrating that attentional fragmentation is not merely a behavioural deficit but a structurally modulated phenomenon that can be mitigated through intentional pedagogical design.