Exclusive Interview with Dr. Anastasia Dedyukhina, Founder, Consciously Digital

It Is All About Finding A Healthy Balance In Our Online And Offline Lives

“To have a healthy relationship with technology, we need to understand very well our strengths and weaknesses as humans,” says Dr. Anastasia Dedyukhina (Digital Well-Being Expert and Founder, Consciously Digital) in an exclusive interview with HR.com.

Dr. Dedyukhina discusses the importance of tech-life balance, digital detox, the future of digital well-being trends and more. At the upcoming October HRTECH SYMPOSIUM 2021, Anastasia will share her insights on humans versus machines and the importance of creating a culture that encourages focus and deep thinking for productivity in order to stay competitive in the digital age.

Excerpts from the interview:

Q. We've heard a lot about digital well-being. What exactly is digital well-being?

Anastasia: I don’t actually like the term “digital well-being.” I think that ‘tech-life balance’ describes it much better – but since Google introduced its ‘digital well-being’ software that measures how much time you spend on the screen, people started using this term. However, it’s very important to understand that digital well-being is much more than just limiting screen time.

Broadly speaking, it’s about how well you balance your online and offline lives. Are you checking emails outside of working hours all the time and feeling overwhelmed? Are you able to unplug during the holidays? Can you stay in a real conversation with a friend or colleague without checking your smartphone every 5 minutes without the real need to do it?

Q. How can we build a healthy relationship with technology? What's the risk vs benefit?

Anastasia: To have a healthy relationship with technology, we need to understand our strengths and weaknesses as humans. For example, we need to realize that human attention is limited, and therefore, should be carefully managed. We evolved the way that our brain rewards us for distractions – this quality allows us to monitor the environment and escape danger just in time. However, this quality is damaging, if we need to work in a concentrated way, and our phone constantly sends us reminders. It means that in order to perform your best when at work, for instance, you may want to focus on just one thing and remove your phone out of sight, to help your ‘ancient’ brain cope with modern digital temptations.
 

Only when we know our vulnerabilities and factor them in when working with tech will we be able to take full advantage of what tech offers – speed and convenience being some of the most important ones. Otherwise, we are going to be enslaved by our own tools, just like any master of the Lord of the Rings.

Q. Regarding technology breaks, should we practice 'digital detox?'

Anastasia: It’s not a solution, but definitely a good way to gain a new perspective. I practice a short version by not using devices at the dining table and in the bedroom; some people have a digital ‘Sabbath’ every week, and others take days off tech to rethink. Allegedly, this is what Bill Gates did twice a year, spending time in nature, walking, reading and thinking about the future – and he did grant these weeks as life-changing for Microsoft.

Q. What new areas of health and well-being will be digitized in the near future?

Anastasia: Everything really, but most likely we are looking at the integration of information from various trackers that will be assembled finally at one place. I personally don’t think that digitizing all aspects of well-being is needed or creates an optimal experience, as people are very complex beings, and well-being is all about holistic approach (whereas well-being apps etc. offer only part of the solution or only look at certain metrics). But we definitely see more people, especially among 20 to 30-year olds using online well-being solutions, from yoga lessons to reminders by their devices to go to sleep early.

Q. What are some of the digital well-being trends to watch out for in 2022?

Anastasia: Measurements of all sorts – via apps, software, surveys (and we need to be very careful to check assumptions behind these measurements, as not everything can be quantified). More apps and tech to help with well-being – whether putting you to sleep or training focus (again, research about their effectiveness is very mixed at best). Physical digital detox escapes, once people can finally travel.
 

Dr. Anastasia Dedyukhina, is a TEDx speaker, bestselling author of Homo Distractus, and Founder and Director of Consciously Digital, first international network of over 100 digital wellbeing coaches and the first ICF-certified digital well-being training program. Anastasia is a frequent speaker at global conferences, such as Mobile World Congress, and she has appeared numerous times in the national and international press, including BBC, ITV, Metro, Guardian etc. Anastasia's TEDx talk Could you live without a smartphone? has been viewed more than 250,000 times on YouTube.