Digital wellbeing is a term we are hearing more and more. But what exactly is digital wellbeing?
Digital wellbeing is managing our relationship with the digital world. This is both the positive and negative impact on our physical, mental, social and emotional wellbeing.
The digital world is incredible. It offers so many tools and opportunities. But sadly, there is also a negative side. Digital wellbeing is about balancing the two and making sure we’re getting more of the positive impact and less of the negative. It’s about making sure that we are in control of our digital use rather than it being in control of us.
That means we need to be consciously using digital tools rather than unconsciously using them. How often have you found yourself caught in the scroll, losing minutes or even hours without realising? How often have you picked up your phone without thinking about it? How often have you been interrupted by digital notifications?
Digital wellbeing is about being conscious and in control so we know why we are using the tools and are doing it with intention.
This is applicable both on a personal and business level. On the personal side, smartphone use has been shown to impact our sleep, creativity, focus and attention, our mental health, and also take time away from other things need to or could be doing to live a more fulfilled life.
On the business side, it’s becoming more and more difficult to switch off at the end of the working day. We can still receive notifications outside of working hours and may even be expected to be plugged in to our workplace out of hours or during holidays. Workplaces have a responsibility to make sure we are balancing our digital wellbeing and getting more positives from it than negatives. The reality is that if you are digitally plugged in all the time it can lead to stress, burnout and lowered productivity. There’s also issues with creativity and interrupted focus.
There’s a further issue of constant notifications through your working day, taking you away from tasks that you need to complete. This can lead to a decrease in your productivity and your engagement and fulfilment within the role.
For many roles, the whole working day is spent staring at a screen, which can impact our eyesight and our sleep. It’s also important that businesses are thinking about switch off time, having more face-to-face meetings and raising alerts when you have been staring too long at a screen.
So digital wellbeing is about making sure that we have a much bigger positive impact from the digital world than a negative impact. Do you think enough about yours?
Watch the video below for more:
