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Digital wellness awareness is still very low in the country and impacting negatively on productivity and general wellbeing of Nigerians, says Oluwatosin Olabode, a digital wellness expert and Africa’s first certified digital wellness educator, in a recent interview with IT Edge News.Africa.
According to him, the concept of digital wellness is still relatively new in this part of the world. However, on a global scale; digital wellness awareness can be said to have greatly increased notably around the western world.
RELATED: Oluwatosin Olabode: The future of digital wellness
A typical reference point could be the Google consumer survey report of 2019 which stated that 1 in 3 Americans have taken steps to improve their digital wellbeing in the past year, and more than 80% of them said it had a positive impact on their overall sense of wellbeing.
Digital wellness is “a positive state of mental, physical, and social-emotional health pursued through intentional, authentic, and balanced engagement with technology and interactive media,’ says the Digital Wellness Lab of the Bpston Children;s Hospital in the US.
Oluwatosin Olabode
Increasingly, digital wellness is now deemed important because it enables employees to be more engaged and productive, as well as lead healthier lives during and outside of work.
But in Nigeria, only very few people are beginning to understand the relationship between technology devices and human behaviour which is what digital wellness is all about, says a concerned Olabode.
“Over the years of working with these young people, it became clearer how much technology and social media, for instance, were impacting their overall well-being (this was more negative than it was positive). Realizing that the use of technology can either impact us positively or negatively is what began my journey into the digital wellness world,” he tells IT Edge News. Africa.
Olabode, who manages the mental health non-profit, Strengthening Society Today Foundation, and is the author of Digitally Well: Structures and Society in the Tech Era’, says there is much work to e done to salvage the young population of Nigerians from suffering the intense consequences from lack of awareness of digital wellness.
Awareness enables ‘digital flourishing®’ a concept the Digital Wellness Institute describes as a “mindful approach to digital technology usage that supports our thriving in various areas of life. This approach empowers us to take advantage of the benefits of technology while avoiding associated harms.” Olabode adds “humane digital habits are how we take advantage of the benefits of technology. They are intentional and mindful practices that prioritize well-being and productivity.”
The Symonds Research further strengthens this position. IT says “digital wellness and well-being is the ability to ensure that your use of digital technologies has a positive impact on your own wellbeing.”
Olabode is optimistic that awareness on digital wellness will grow overtime in Nigeria as people become more aware of the connection between use of digital tools and health with general wellbeing.
His words: It’s difficult to make specific predictions about the future of digital wellness, but I am certain that it has come to stay. We are now witnessing an integration of the online and offline worlds as there is hardly anything we want to do that does not require some form of technology.
“For this reason, digital wellness will continue to be an important topic in the years to come, as technology becomes even more integrated into our daily lives, and people want to ensure that they are using it in a way that promotes their optimal health.”
