Teaching and learning “Digital Wellbeing”

Nowadays, the traditional approach to supporting people’s digital wellbeing is providing them with digital self-control tools that can delay or block access to websites and mobile apps. As recent works demonstrate, however, such an approach is often ineffective, and developing proper boundaries to technology (over)use is still a challenge. In this paper, we support the idea that achieving digital wellbeing is a path of personal growth that requires education rather than restrictions, and that education may foster the emergence of a new generation of designers and practitioners that considers digital wellbeing and social good. To this end, we report on the results of a case study (N = 93) in an Italian university during which we measured the impacts and outcomes of a multidisciplinary course on the digital wellbeing topic. The course introduced the digital wellbeing research area from the HCI and psychology perspectives, and challenged students in the design and prototype of technological solutions respecting and promoting people’s digital wellbeing. Results from the case study confirm that educational solutions may positively impact students’ digital wellbeing and inspire them to prototype technologies for the social good, opening the way to exploring and establishing more sustainable design practices.