CARE FOR SPIRITUALITY IN THE ERA OF DISTRACTIONS: THE CENTRAL ROLE OF ISLAMIC RELIGIOUS EDUCATION IN FORMING ATTENTION ETHICS FOR THE ALPHA GENERATION

Abstract

Generation Alpha, born and raised in a hyper-stimulating digital environment, faces the challenge of structural distractions that threaten the foundations of their spiritual development. The capacity for inner silence (khalwat), contemplation (tafakkur), and devotion (khushu'), vital to a profound religious experience, is eroded by fast-paced, fragmented, and algorithm-driven media consumption patterns. This library-based qualitative research aims to explore the central role of Islamic Religious Education (PAI) in responding to this challenge through the formation of attention ethics. The research results show that digital distraction has become an ontological challenge for Generation Alpha spirituality. However, PAI has unique resources to build a solid ethics of attention, which is grounded in the value of Tauhid as a compass for managing focus. Worship practices such as prayer, fasting, and dhikr have the potential to be spiritual cognitive training to train attention discipline. As a synthesis, this research formulates the Spiritual-Digital Literacy Model (LISDI), a proactive educational framework that integrates transcendent awareness, critical-digital skills, and ethical agency. It is concluded that Islamic Religious Education (PAI) must transform from an informative-normative approach to a formative-transformational one, with a focus on establishing attention sovereignty based on divine values. Its implementation requires the integration of attention ethics modules into the PAI curriculum, teacher training as digital murabbi (leaders), and the creation of a school ecosystem that supports focus management practices, in order to shape an Alpha Generation that is not only tech-savvy but also faith-driven and spiritually sovereign.