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The Impact of Digital Detox on University Students’ Mental Well-being and Academic Performance
Tanzeela Khaliq
Abstract:
The amount of university students' digital technology use today is causing a large issue with digital addiction. Consequently, both health professionals and educators are concerned about the impact of digital addiction on students. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of a structured digital detox on undergraduate students' academic performance and psychological well-being. A quasi-experimental pretest-posttest control group design was used. One hundred students were randomly assigned to either an experimental group (detox group), n = 50, or a control group, n = 50. Students in the detox group did not have access to any non-essential screen time for two weeks. The detox group was required to attend mindfulness activities and participate in offline study sessions during those two weeks. Three tools were used to measure the variables of psychological well-being, academic motivation, and screen time. The tools were the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale, the Academic Motivation Scale, and student monitored daily screen time logs. Upon completion of the analysis of the data, the results indicated that the detox group demonstrated significant increases in well-being (t (99) = 4.32, p < .001) and grade point average (GPA) (t (99) =3.85, p < .001). No significant differences in either well-being or GPA were found between the two groups. Additionally, a negative relationship existed between screen time and both well-being (r=-.45, p < .01) and GPA (r=-.39, p < .01); and a positive relationship existed between well-being and GPA (r=.42, p < .01). Our multiple regression analyses indicated that decreased screen time and improved concentration explained 31% of the variation in psychological well-being. Overall, our results indicate that intentional digital abstinence can provide the necessary restoration of psychological equilibrium and academic focus for students. Therefore, digital detox can be a viable, cost-effective method of promoting mental resilience and cognitive functioning within the context of higher education.
Keywords:
digital detox, mental well-being, academic performance, university students, smartphone use, cognitive load
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