How much time are you spending online, and is this supporting or sabotaging your life?
Digital wellness is when we engage in mindful technology use.
Healthy habits include boundaries that give you technology-free time.
In the modern world, it is unlikely that we can completely detox from digital technologies, as they are integrated into our everyday lives.
So, it is important to focus on digital wellbeing to ensure we use technology in ways that align with our goals and values.
You may wonder, “What does healthy use look like?” Well, when we engage purposefully and intentionally while remaining emotionally balanced, we can use technology flexibly. This means that technology fits in with our lives, and we remain in control.
We can focus on one task at a time, put our phones and digital devices down when needed, and balance living in both the online and offline worlds. Through this mindful use, technology serves us—not the other way around.
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So, what exactly is digital wellbeing? It can be defined as “the impact of digital technologies and services on people’s mental, physical, and emotional health” (Vanden Abeele, 2021, p. 934).
When our digital wellbeing is good, we have a balanced and healthy relationship with technology that positively impacts our mental, social, and emotional wellbeing.
This helps create a hopeful digital environment for us, filled with positive communication, trust, and opportunities to learn and connect with others. In these environments, we feel safe and included.
You can influence what you see and experience online, so you can take steps to ensure that the online world is positively influencing you. Here are some strategies that might help you to create your digital environment and shift from passive consumption of information to more conscious engagement:
Choose accounts that make you feel good by educating, inspiring, or entertaining you.
Take some time to check your thoughts and moods before and after using technology. Do you feel more positive and energized, or drained and depleted? This will help you manage your feeds and make changes if needed.
Limit negativity or anxiety-provoking material. Doomscrolling is the compulsive use of technology to consume negative or distressing information.
Set time limits around your social media use to ensure that you are checking in with yourself in between consuming material.
Be mindful and intentional about when and how you use technology. Think about how you can create tech-free time or zones at home.
Consider disconnecting to reconnect. We can choose to replace scrolling with other alternatives such as exercise, stretching, listening to music, journaling, or engaging in real-world conversations. This time to pause and reflect allows you to ask yourself, “Is technology currently draining me or energizing me?” This helps you to shift your behavior from automatic scrolling to intentional use.
Research shows that doomscrolling is associated with poorer mental wellbeing and higher levels of stress and anxiety, partly because individuals repeatedly expose themselves to distressing information (Akat & Hamarta, 2025). It may also have links with social media addiction.
Doomscrolling can also be connected with higher levels of psychological distress and can negatively impact life satisfaction (Satici et al., 2023). There are things that we can do to stop doomscrolling and create healthier habits, such as urge surfing, a practice where you learn to resist your cravings and urges. When we are more aware of our habits, we are more able to make positive changes.
You may consider turning off notifications, building in time to reflect and check in with yourself, or going on a digital detox. Here are suggestions on how to digitally detox.
How Do We Get the Balance Right?
Digital wellbeing can influence our lives in a multidisciplinary way (Burr & Floridi, 2020). A healthy digital world comes from a healthy you.
Define your “why.” What is it that you would like to use technology for, and what would you like it to do for you?
For example, is it about gathering information, increasing your creativity, or building your connections? Your why will help you check in with yourself and see if you are aligning with your values and goals.
Technology allows us to stay constantly connected to others and to a limitless pool of information. Still, it can also create pressure to respond immediately to people, emails, messages, and social media notifications. To maintain good digital wellbeing, it is important to set boundaries around your time and availability.
You may find it helpful to create physical distance between yourself and technology to establish boundaries and reduce digital distractions, for example, by placing phones and laptops in a different room while focusing on another task.
Similarly, switching devices to silent mode or turning off non-essential notifications so that you are not always “on” can prevent constant interruptions and allow you to focus more fully on the present moment.
Another helpful strategy is to build intentional pauses into your day. Your body will tell you what you need to know, so make time to practice mind–body check‑ins. Notice how your body feels during and after screen time. For example, do you feel tense, have racing or negative thoughts, or feel calmer, energized, and more relaxed?
Checking in with yourself in this way allows you to adjust how much time you spend engaging with technology or content. You can then choose activities that light you up.
A Take-Home Message
The digital age is one that we all need to embrace, and how we do this is in our hands. Digital technology is neither all bad nor all good. Instead, the impact depends on how it is used. Technology can educate and connect us.
Digital wellbeing is about regularly asking, “Is this helping me live the life I want?” and adjusting your behavior when the answer is no. In this way, we can be intentional about our digital habits and establish healthy boundaries with technology.
Rather than rejecting digital tools, we can learn to engage with them mindfully and purposefully so that they are a positive influence on our wellbeing.
When we are passive in our social media use, it can increase feelings of anxiety, depression, loneliness, and poor sleep, especially when it encourages constant comparison or exposure to distressing content (Akat & Hamarta, 2025).
However, when used intentionally, educationally, or for meaningful conversations or creative expression, social media can boost connection and a sense of belonging. The impact doesn’t depend on how much you use it, but more on how you use it and what you consume.
What is social media addiction?
Social media addiction is a pattern of compulsive use where someone feels unable to control their use or consumption of material on social media, even when this has negative personal consequences for them, such as reduced productivity, inability to focus on other tasks, changes to their mood, or a negative impact on their real-world relationships (Bányai et al., 2017).
References
Akat, M., & Hamarta, E. (2025). Doomscrolling and social media addiction in adolescents: A two-wave longitudinal study. Journal of Addictive Diseases, 43(4), 377–385. https://doi.org/10.1080/10550887.2025.2504231
Bányai, F., Zsila, Á., Király, O., Maraz, A., Elekes, Z., Griffiths, M. D., Andreassen, C. S., Demetrovics, Z., & Jiménez-Murcia, S. (2017). Problematic social media use: Results from a large-scale nationally representative adolescent sample. PLOS ONE, 12(1), Article e0169839. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0169839
Burr, C., & Floridi, L. (Eds.). (2020). The ethics of digital well-being: A multidisciplinary perspective. Springer.
Satici, S. A., Tekin, E. G., Deniz, M. E., & Satici, B. (2023). Doomscrolling scale: Its association with personality traits, psychological distress, social media use, and wellbeing. Applied Research in Quality of Life, 18(2), 833–847. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-022-10110-7
Dr. Rina Bajaj, DPsych, is a counseling psychologist and has been working within the field of mental health and wellbeing since 2004 and has varied experience with children, adolescents, and adults. She is used to working with people from a diverse range of backgrounds and has worked within the NHS, statutory organizations, the corporate world, and the voluntary sector. Rina believes in fitting the therapy to the person, rather than the other way around, so that therapy is accessible to people from all walks of life.
In the modern world, it is unlikely that we can completely detox from digital technologies, as they are integrated into our everyday lives.
Digital wellbeing can influence our lives in a multidisciplinary way (Burr & Floridi, 2020). A healthy digital world comes from a healthy you.
