Digital Well-being
Unplug
At Virginia Tech, we want our students to experience digital flourishing. Digital well-being occurs on a spectrum and flourishing is when we use our devices in a way that maximizes the positives and minimizes the negatives. In other words, we are benefiting from all the great things that technology has to offer. Devices supplement and add to our lives but do not take away from us reaching our full potential.
The Digital Wellness Institute has developed a tool to help people understand the 8 dimensions of digital well-being and assess a person's individual device use strengths and areas of improvement.
Get Started
- Discover personal areas of digital flourishing and challenges – take the Digital Flourishing survey!
- Find Alternatives to scrolling and commit to doing them.
Weekly Well-being Challenges
Challenge 14: December 1-7
The next time you are stressed, take 5 deep breaths instead of checking your phone.
Looking at our phones can often be a default response when we feel stress. The challenge is, rather than making us feel better or helping us manage stress in the long run, it can make us feel more anxious. Taking a pause to take a breath helps create a new pattern, it’s free, and it works! Deep breathing can be done anywhere, and it immediately slows down your body’s stress response. Here are some resources to help you explore and practice the benefits of this week’s challenge.
- How to breathe properly and why it matters — Calm Blog
- Breathing Technique to Relax: Belly Breathing Exercise with Dora Kamau - youtube.com
- Download One Sec: This app forces you to take a deep breath whenever you open social media. Friction removes instant gratification and makes distracting apps less appealing.
Note: For mobile, you may need to press and hold the download button