A conversation about digital wellbeing

I rarely come across much discussion over digital wellbeing. For many of us, we are connected to the digital world most of the time. I am currently sat on holiday, using the hotel WiFi (through a VPN, of course) to write this. I even have a meeting this week that I am still trying to move, but I might end up doing it from my hotel room using my wife’s laptop, which she brought as she has a contract due. This is not just digital wellbeing, the ease in which such movement occurs means that we are now always accessible. Even though in my role at least it is not expected, in hers she owns the business so sometimes the choice is not always an easy one and the expectation is there. Me writing this post I think is actually because I’ve been relaxed and had time to think, which for an academic is always dangerous.

One learning resource I actually watched on LinkedIn Learning spoke about notifications. And you can simply split notifications into two categories, ones you want and ones that want you. Something like messaging services is one that I want, but I also use modes and routines on my Samsung to limit where, when, and from whom. Whereas many notifications are there just to make someone money. A new video available for you from your favourite vlogger? The adverts within that whenever you watch it, that makes someone else money so that notification is blocked. This might seem a bit extreme. Just using such a system of a notification being one extreme or the other but it works, and I feel a lot less dependent on my phone. I don’t even have notifications turned on for my computer, they are too distracting, and I am easily distracted. These big but simple changes can move your digital devices to a tool that you control.

Research suggests that even having your mobile device on your desk can reduce productivity and intelligence level. Not even when it is being used, just sitting there being a distraction. When I want to concentrate I put my phone on my wife’s desk in our office space at home, just behind me but out of my view. If I am somewhere else I turn it off, or leave it somewhere out of my way. Using functions like do not disturb on Teams, and closing your emails is acceptable. Emails and work notifications are rarely an emergency requiring an immediate response. Moving from being a paramedic to academia it can be a difficult transition from response times of 8 minutes, to 2 working days.

I have an issue with misuse of automatic replies. Id you are busy and this business is work related and your responses are delayed, you do not have to apologise for this with an automated response. You are still working, just prioritising your work. This will cause stress with this apology, but as someone who occasionally emails large distribution groups I get multiple automatic replies that I then either have to delete or mark as read. I have even recently noticed my students using responses like this. Just because you can be contacted, doesn’t mean you always have to be contactable. Sometimes when I say I don’t have capacity it is not because my diary is full it is because I have enough going on. And that is ok. Not everything requires a diary entry. Sometimes I use diary entries to set focus time aside for tasks, sometimes I don’t. Just because I have a gap doesn’t mean it needs to be filled with a meeting that probably should have been an email exchange. Sometimes, even being the geek that I am, I still get out a book and read it. Either a novel by the pool, or digital pedagogies as I plan my next academic year of teaching and what I can incorporate to make learning more successful.

There has been lots of attempts at providing digital blocks or give information to the user to support digital wellbeing. But all of these are user dependent, and do not necessarily break habits. Instead, education may be needed to embed ideas of what good digital wellbeing is. I am not going to reiterate the discussion in this article in its entirety, but the attention economy that is discussed and referenced in this article is evident in many digital interactions, both social and professional. From social media adverts, to those notifications that are reminding you that you haven’t played a game in a while and you need to look at the adverts that they receive revenue for (or pay to remove them).