{"id":910,"date":"2020-06-08T16:07:24","date_gmt":"2020-06-08T15:07:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/digitaldiscovery\/?p=910"},"modified":"2020-10-06T10:16:59","modified_gmt":"2020-10-06T09:16:59","slug":"digital-wellbeing-the-low-down-in-lockdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/digitaldiscovery\/2020\/06\/08\/digital-wellbeing-the-low-down-in-lockdown\/","title":{"rendered":"Digital Wellbeing: The Low-Down in Lockdown"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Our lives have become increasingly immersed in digital technologies; changing how we learn, work, socialise, and even how we spend our leisure time. While this drive to use technology has its benefits it is important to understand the implications of our online life for our digital wellbeing. This is particularly true during this time of lockdown when its impact has never been more acutely felt with more of us working and studying online. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As you might expect, digital wellbeing is often defined in terms of the capabilities and skills required to successfully utilise digital technologies. Though defining digital wellbeing within such neat confines fails to capture the complexities of the topic. It risks understating the impact of digital technologies on our emotions, relationships, and sense of self. Capturing its impact more fully requires us to be introspective; exercising awareness and reflective practice when using digital technologies. It requires us to identify and understand both the positive and negative impacts of engaging with digital activities, fostering an awareness that helps us manage and control these to improve our wellbeing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A change in circumstances<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Over recent weeks, working from home has made me contemplate my own digital wellbeing. Though mindful of it before this crisis, the confinement and reliance on digital technologies necessary to do my job and stay connected have amplified pre-existing issues and brought with it some new challenges. What follows is a personal account, though I hope you may find aspects of it beneficial and applicable to your own experiences of working and studying from home. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The procrastination station\/spiral<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Mark Twain advised \u201cNever put off till tomorrow what may be done the day after tomorrow just as well\u201d and I am all too inclined to listen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am no stranger to procrastination; I procrastinated this very blog post. In the absence of the structured environments provided by a workplace, lecture theatre, or library; places you associate with work and study, it is easy to fall into the pattern of avoidance. As digital technologies have made aspects of our lives easier, so too do they often facilitate our delaying tactics with ease. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the shift online, it is tempting when feeling unengaged with a task to switch to a new browser window with the good intentions of carrying out a quick search and ending up on YouTube for longer than you\u2019d care to admit. Before you know it, you\u2019ve descended into a procrastination spiral and that blog post has (remarkably) not written itself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

From experience, by making a few simple changes you can overcome this habit:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n