What is it?
So far in this challenge series, we have encouraged educators to mindfully and strategically incorporate digital tools in their teaching and learning practice. However, like everything else, too much of a good thing can also be a bad thing. Any tool, when used ineffectively or inappropriately, can do more harm than good. The B.C. Post-Secondary Digital Literacy Framework (p. 11) states: “A digitally literate person will use technology to support their wellbeing and have strategies for managing technology if it negatively impacts their physical, mental, or emotional health. A digitally literate person will have healthy boundaries with digital technologies, use them intentionally and will not use digital technologies in ways that harm others.“
The concept of digital wellbeing is an important one, but also very broad. It is a complex concept that can be viewed from a variety of perspectives and across different contexts and situations. Jisc uses digital wellbeing as a term to describe the impact of technologies and digital services on people’s mental, physical, social, and emotional health.
Why is it important?
Our daily lives are intertwined with technology and filled with an abundance of digital tools. To live a digitally well-balanced life is often easier said than done. Jisc invites us to consider digital wellbeing in these four contexts: social, personal, learning and work: “Technologies and digital activities can impact on physical, mental, social and emotional wellbeing in both positive and negative ways.”
Learn it:
Reflect on your current digital wellbeing by completing the self-assessment quiz below:
This activity was adopted from the Is It Time for a Digital Detox? by UBC’s Digital Tattoo project which is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Learn it:
If the self-assessment showed that you have a well-balanced digital life, congratulations! If the self-assessment showed that your digital wellbeing and real life is out of balance, no worries. In this challenge, we’re offering you a few ways to get your digital life back on track by introducing the PERMA Framework.
Learn more about about the PERMA Framework through these reflective questions, adapted from this blog post:
Practice it:
Conduct a simple personal digital wellbeing audit to reflect on your habits and goals:
- Assess your technology usage:
- List key digital technologies you use professionally and regularly
- Estimate how many hours you spend on each daily
- Mark which ones bring value versus which ones create stress
- Reflect on your boundaries:
- When do you first check and last check email/messages?
- Do you have tech-free times or spaces?
- How do you communicate availability to students and colleagues?
- Set goals for your digital wellbeing:
- Identify 1 specific digital habit you’d like to change
- List the steps needed to implement this change
- Consider what support or resources you might need to be successful
How could this competency be applied in the classroom?
Ms. Williams noticed increasing stress levels and difficulty concentrating in her day to day work. After reflection, she identified several digital habits affecting her wellbeing:
- Checking email first thing in the morning and last thing at night
- Keeping notifications enabled 24/7 on all devices
- Feeling obligated to respond immediately to all student messages
- Constantly comparing her teaching materials to colleagues on social media
In response to this, she implemented several changes:
- Limited social media use to specific times and purposes
- Disabled notifications outside working hours
- Created designated “email hours” and communicated them clearly to students. She set up an auto-response indicating typical response times
- Established tech-free zones in her home and office
After a few months of implementing these changes, she noticed she was sleeping better, could concentrate for longer, and felt more present when interacting with students. She felt her work and personal life was better separated and hoped her actions would model healthy digital boundaries for her students.
Ideas for next steps
- Think of one thing that you could change about your digital practices over the next week. The immediate task could something like:
- Using a bluelight filter on your devices
- Setting up fixed online office hours and only responding to messages and emails from students during this time
- Blocking off two to three hours of deep concentration time to avoid task switching and try monotasking instead
- Create “technology-free” components in your class assignments to encourage students to take a break from technology too
- Develop a list of digital wellbeing resources for your syllabus or Moodle course, such as the Staying Tranquil in Your Digital Life tutorial from UBC’s Digital Tattoo Project.
- Connect students with TRU’s Wellness Centre to help foster a balanced lifestyle
Share what you learned!
In the comments below, share your key takeaway from this challenge (i.e. one new thing you learned, something that resonated with you, how the challenge “practice it” activity went for you, etc.)
Based on the quiz, my digital life seems to be fairly balanced and tranquil. However, reading about Professor Williams’ experience really resonated with me, I recognized a lot of my past habits in her story, and to some extent, I still fall into those patterns. I’ve made progress by setting specific times for checking and replying to student emails, and I make sure to communicate those expectations clearly in my course outline and in class. Still, I prefer to be highly responsive and accessible, which can make it hard to consistently stick to those boundaries. Even though I have clear guidelines, I still sometimes slip, especially when I feel the need to always be available. It’s a reminder that maintaining healthy digital boundaries is an ongoing process that takes intention and self-awareness.
I think it’s safe to say digital boundaries are a work in progress for many of us (myself included). I have to remind myself when I feel the need to actively monitor email to be responsive, that action is setting a precedence that isn’t sustainable for me long term, nor is it productive due to constantly task switching. It ends up being more harmful than helpful!