In this module we will learn about digital wellbeing.

Digital wellbeing is how the internet makes us feel. This includes recognising the impact that being online can have on our emotions, our mental health and our physical health.

Screen time is how long you spend looking at a screen. Screens include TVs, computers, smartphones, tablets and video consoles. You might not realise how much screen time you have daily, but it is very important to keep track of it.

Health describes how you are feeling and whether you have an illness or injury. If you are healthy, then you will have ‘yes’ feelings. If you are unhealthy, then you will have ‘no’ feelings.

Screen time can affect your health in many ways. It can impact your:

• Weight – if you spend all the time on your screens then you might not be getting enough physical activity, leading to weight gain.
• Sleep – If you use your screens before bed every night, this can affect how well you sleep
• Communication skills – Screens can make you feel lonely in the real world, and they might take away from family time or your friends
• Neck and back – If you don’t sit properly when using your screen, this can cause neck and back pain

Healthy screen time is when you use your screens for up to 2 hours per day. Unhealthy screen time is when you use your screens for longer than 2 hours a day at a time.

Designers of apps and games attract our attention because they know how people think and can predict how we will behave.

Apps don’t just rely on us coming to them whenever we want to. They rely on us feeling good when we view content and then use that knowledge to trick us into coming back.

The same goes for games. If you want to keep up to date in a game , level up and be rewarded with new skills or powers to beat the competition, you need to keep playing.

Some ways apps capture our attention include:

• Notifications sent to your phone
• Targeted suggestions and ads
• Reminder emails to follow up on your interest in a product or service
• Keeping track of your social life by sending you reminders of memories you’ve made on the app

Some ways games do this are :

• Game expansion packs
• Issuing rewards if you’re a top player
• Evolving the world to make you feel like you need to constantly play to keep up to date
• Limited time offers

The more time we spend on apps and games, the more information they can track about us. When they know what we like, they can make more money from us.

Going online and staying connected to the world is awesome. But it’s good to make sure we’re not letting the online world take over the real world.

Being online too much can include:

• Constantly checking your phone
• Playing games for hours at a time
• Having sore eyes, headaches or trouble sleeping
• Being less involved with your ‘real world’ friends and activities
• Fighting with your parents about how much time you are spending on screens

Being online too much can affect our wellbeing. Ways we can balance our time online in healthy ways include:

• Limiting your fun screen time or game play time to 2 hours or less every day
• Taking regular breaks from the screen at least every 30-60 minutes
• Following content that makes you feel good
• Choosing sleep over extra screen time
• Having a comfortable desk and chair set up
• Making plans with your offline friends

Turning off your screens can be difficult when you are having fun. Don’t be too hard on yourself if you don’t manage to practise healthy online habits sometimes. It happens to most people.

You might spend time online for a number of reasons. The reasons can be so that you:

• Stay connected
• Make new friends
• Keep in touch
• Entertain yourself, or
• Learn about something new

Making friends online or connecting with your family and friends online can make you feel happy. However, there are situations where you can experience ‘no’ feelings. This might be if you have no time to do anything else.

If you ever experience ‘no’ feelings when you are online, there are many things you can do. You can limit your time on social media and spend more time outdoors or with family and friends.. You can also choose to limit the things that are making you feel sad online, like unfollowing some accounts and instead follow motivational or funny accounts.

Some people like to set physical health goals for themselves. They might set targets to achieve at the gym so that they can get stronger.

Taking care of our bodies is important, but so is taking care of our online health. Spending too much time online can affect your wellbeing.

Online health goals are healthy habits that help us have a positive experience on the internet.

By taking the time to work on our online health goals, we’ll be able to have fun online but also make sure we are the ones in control of our time.

One way to do this is to set boundaries. Boundaries limits we create for ourselves and others that aren’t allowed to be crossed. By setting boundaries, we are telling others how we want to be treated. It’s important we remain considerate of boundaries so we can show respect for others’ choices, but also so others can show respect for our choices.

Creating boundaries on the internet is necessary for a number of reasons:

1. Boundaries are important for safety reasons

This means limiting how much of our personal information others can access. The easiest way to do this is by turning on our privacy settings.

2. Boundaries are important for our wellbeing

This means limiting our screen or game play time so we are effectively balancing our time online. It could also mean unfollowing, muting, restricting, blocking, or reporting any content that is harmful to our mental health.

3. Boundaries are important for being kind

This means respecting others’ choices online, including their decision to not follow us back, to not message us back immediately, or to say no to a game invitation.

Have Anya’s boundaries been respected?

What should Khan have done instead to show respect for Anya’s boundaries?

Think about how you can practise healthy online habits in ways that make you feel good. Some questions to ask yourself when setting good habits online could be:

• How do I feel when I am online too much?
• How do I like to rest when I’m tired?
• What do I like to do when I’m not on the screen or playing games?
• Are there other things I can do if I get bored?

Figuring out ways we can rest and recharge when we are away from screens is important especially if we want enough energy to continue enjoying ourselves and having fun online!