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 Digital Well-being Challenges
Challenge 5: February 17–February 23
Be a positive influence for connection! Ask friends to Hang Up and Hang Out at least once this week – phone free.
This week, challenge yourself to positively influence your friends into a more rewarding social experience. At some point, most of us have used our phones when in conversation with people right in front of us. When we do that, it decreases our connection and can sometimes be frustrating to others in that social situation. Ditch phubbing (phone snubbing) and get others to do it too. Ask your friends to “Hang up and hang out” or come up with other creative ways to get phones out of the conversation setting. Be inspired by this quick post on harnessing the Power of Positive Peer Pressure to help create a more digitally well Hokie environment.
Research article: The iPhone Effect: The Quality of In-Person Social Interactions in the Presence of Mobile Devices
- Learn more about how even just the presence of your phone can lead to lower quality conversations.
Article: Conversations are powerful. Here are ways to embrace the awkward and deepen relationship
- How to take a conversation deeper.
- Listen a segment on to how to have great conversations.
- Hearing other points of view.
Article: Smartphones, Phubbing, and Relationship Satisfaction
- Definition of phubbing.
- The effects of phubbing.
- Tips for how to get others to stop.
Article: Our need for true connection is giving rise to phone-free spaces
- How phone use shapes our environments.
- Prioritizing social interaction.
There are so many ways to have a more present, rewarding experience by choosing to put your phone away. Try them all! You can Hang Up and Hang Out with:
- Nature.
- Your student organization.
- Classes.
- The Drillfield.
- Your books.
- Your food.
- With games.
Note: For mobile, you may need to press and hold the download button