Navigating Mental Health Challenges In The Digital Age

Mental health is the fulcrum of human existence and determines how we act or perceive the world. It is the foundation on which rests the behaviour of individuals and communities. This is simply because we, as social beings, are shaped by the occurrences around us.

Over the past decade, technology has been growing by leaps and bounds into different areas, entering workplaces, the education sector, healthcare, and the sphere of visual and performing arts, to name a few. As impressive as these possibilities are, each of them is faced with its share of psychological challenges. While technology ensures a seamless transition from working in physical spaces to a virtual one, the uncertainty of flexible, sometimes stretchable work hours lurks beneath. Overworked, underpaid, burnt-out individuals, all for the lack of work-life balance. Although social media enables greater connectedness among people, provides a platform for content creators to showcase their work and offers access to the target audience who can respond to it, there are obvious downsides. Social media users are likely to feel pressured to have a certain kind of online presence. For the creators, the space is more competitive than ever with the number of followers, likes or comments that are believed to measure their worth. Cybercrimes are on the rise, in increasingly digitised spaces where faceless identities compromise the safety of the users. Hate speech, trolling, stalking, and cyberbullying may seem common but that doesn’t take away the impact it leaves on those harassed.

In terms of online classrooms or learning spaces, it sure opens an array of teaching techniques, self-paced lessons, discourses on teaching practices and so much more. But the question remains, does it lead to the all-round development of the learners wherein they pick up soft skills, and navigate challenges the way they would have done in real time? Does their screen time affect their productivity, attention span, sleep cycle, and their emotional well-being? It does, for some of them, more than the rest. Does the rise in like-minded groups or communities alienate them from the world, in terms of reduced exposure to wider views that don’t align with theirs, in turn affecting their adaptability?

These are concerns that plague the minds of many who are dealing with learned helplessness as technology occupies a large share of one’s daily life. One cannot reject it but the awareness of how it can affect us, when clear, goes a long way in the management of the challenges it poses. The way forward is to have stringent norms and sanctions in place, against unpleasant behaviour digitally, mindful usage of the resources available, employ decent working conditions, create inclusive and holistic learning spaces, have boundaries that we as individuals set to safeguard ourselves and recognise the collective responsibility that we have at the larger level to contribute to a healthy society.