Wellbeing in the digital world

As well as it being Libraries Week 2019 (with its theme of libraries in a digital world), today is also World Mental Health Day. To mark this, Susan Halfpenny takes a look at the topic of Digital Wellbeing and shares some of her approaches to switching off...

Once upon a time, there was a world before our own: a land where the internet didn’t exist. It was a magical place... of playing outdoors, looking up information in books, visiting the library! An age when you didn’t know everybody’s bad opinions on every topic; where meeting people actually involved going to a physical place! That fabled land is a fading memory. Now it’s hard to go a day without using digital technologies. In this new and confusing world, we can barely tell fact from fairytale. Trolls no-longer simply hide under bridges, while big bad wolves keep their big big eyes on us, recording our every action. Has something got lost in this digital forest? Have we traded the prospect of a happy ending for a handful of magic beans?

Sometimes in our modern society it can feel like we are more present in the digital spaces than we are in the physical world. All the interconnectedness of technology with our everyday activities has made a lot of processes easier but it can also result in us feeling ‘always on’. This inability to switch off can have a negative impact on our wellbeing. It is therefore important that we develop the skills that will enable us to use applications effectively, critically evaluate the information we consume, and manage our online/offline balance.

Digital Wellbeing

Digital wellbeing is “the capacity to look after personal health, safety, relationships and work-life balance in digital setting” (Jisc, 2015). For us to effectively manage our digital wellbeing we require the skills to manage digital overload and distraction, protect our personal data, and engage responsibly online. We need to act with concern for the human and natural environment when using digital technologies. To improve digital wellbeing we need to balance developing ICT skills with critical evaluation and interpersonal skills. To enable us to make informed and critical decisions about the impact of digital technologies on our wellbeing we need to reflect and consider if these technologies have an impact on our emotions, relationships, and sense of self. We will all have different ideas about how much time we spend online is right for us and which tools help or hinder our wellbeing. There is no right or wrong. What we need to do when considering our digital wellbeing is identify what works for us as individuals. Once we have this figured out we can look to how our actions can impact others and ensure we are behaving in a socially responsible way.

Switch off or burn out

Managing your online/offline balance is not always an easy task and sometimes we can feel overwhelmed by email, messages, notifications and alerts. These digital distractions can seep into all areas of our lives, making us feel pressured to respond; drawing our attention away from activities we are undertaking in the real world. In the following video, from our Digital Wellbeing course, I explore some of the ways I have struggled with digital distractions which caused stress and anxiety — making me feel I was ‘always on’.

Here are some useful features, tools and tips that I identified when I was trying to address my work-life balance and ‘switch off’:

1. Turn off your alerts: getting alerts at all times of the day can be stressful and distracting. You can use the Do not disturb function on your Apple or Android device to switch off alerts from all apps. If you want to manage this on an app-by-app basis then you can do this in the settings. We provide guidance on how to turn off alerts for different operating systems on our digital wellbeing page.
2. Make a quick note: when you have an idea or remember something you need to do, note it down somewhere to look at later. You could use a non-tech method like a post-it or notepad or a tech solution like Google Keep. The Keep mobile app has voice recognition, so you can speak the idea into your phone and it’ll take a written note that can be picked up later.
3. Send less email: research has found that, on average, people spend a third of their time at work — and half the time they're working at home — reading and responding to emails. All this time dedicated to emails can result in increased workload and stress. Take a look at our effective email guidance for hints and tips for email management.
4. No phones rule: identify time when you won’t look at your phone. You might find it useful to have no phones in the bedroom so you can go to sleep and wake up without the distraction of technology, or no phones at dinnertime to encourage interactions with your family or housemates.
5. 15 minute rule: when you get home, for the first 15 minutes do something that will take your mind off work and make you happy! If straight after the working day doesn’t work for you, pick a different time that does. This is a technique picked up from readings of positive psychology and mindfulness. The Action for Happiness website provides useful tips and activities that you could consider using for your 15 minutes.

As previously mentioned, there is no ‘one size fits all’ solution when it comes to digital wellbeing. One person’s positive can be another person's negative. It’s all about taking the time to reflect and think about what works for your wellbeing.

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If you're interested in finding out more about the topic of digital wellbeing, we're running a free three-week-long online course which starts on 21st October. We'll be exploring the concepts of health, relationships and society in the digital age, and we'd love to see you there!