Digital Wellbeing in Schools: Teaching Healthy Relationships With Technology

Miskola methodology · Updated 2026

What is the Health Imperative in AI education? The Health Imperative is Miskola’s principle that AI should save teachers time — and that saved time must be returned to physical movement and human connection. It balances digital literacy with digital wellbeing: teaching students to use AI without outsourcing attention, sleep and physical health. Part of Miskola’s methodology by Gatis Šeršņevs (Latvia).

Smartphones at school desks have sparked some of the most heated and emotional discussions in education in recent years. Reactions vary: some schools choose a strict path and ban devices entirely, others try to integrate them into the learning process, while the majority navigate between these two extremes, trying to strike a delicate balance.

However, both total bans and blind integration are merely tactical, short-term solutions. The strategic question we should be asking as educators and parents is much deeper: how do we help students build healthy, conscious, and meaningful relationships with technology—relationships that will serve them for the rest of their lives?

The answer lies in the concept of “digital wellbeing”.

What is digital wellbeing, actually?

Digital wellbeing is not about giving up technology or demonizing it. It is the ability to use digital tools in a way that enhances rather than impairs our quality of life. It is about conscious and purposeful choices rather than automatic and unconscious “scrolling”.

Researchers from the Oxford Internet Institute (Przybylski & Weinstein, 2017) shed interesting light on this topic. They discovered that the relationship between screen time and adolescent wellbeing follows a so-called $U$-shaped curve:

Both very low screen time (complete isolation from the digital environment) and excessively high screen time are associated with lower levels of wellbeing.
Meanwhile, moderate screen time shows no negative effects and even helps young people socialize and develop.

The problem, therefore, is not technology itself, but how we use it. If usage is uncontrolled and mindless, our attention and emotional state suffer.

The four pillars of digital wellbeing in the classroom

To help students navigate the digital world, we can rely on four main pillars:

1. Mindful use

Before a hand automatically reaches for a phone, a student must learn to ask themselves a simple question: “Why am I opening my phone right now? What exactly do I want to achieve with it?” This habit can be easily trained in lessons by introducing brief reflection pauses before and after using digital tools.

2. Digital boundaries

The algorithms of social media tech giants are purposefully designed to hold our attention for as long as possible. It is important for students to understand these mechanisms. As soon as a young person understands how “hooks” and dopamine loops work, it becomes easier for them to draw a boundary and say: “I control the phone, the phone doesn’t control me.”

3. Balance between the digital and the physical

Offline activities are not a “retro” quirk—they are a cognitive necessity. Physical movement, eye contact, face-to-face conversation, and time in nature are vitally important for the brain to rest and recover after an intense stream of information on screens.

4. Digital self-regulation

The ultimate goal is not to get a student to put their phone away only when a teacher or parent yells at them. The goal is to develop self-regulation. This skill must be taught gradually—giving the student increasing freedom and autonomy while providing the necessary support and tools for self-control.

Practical steps you can try in your classroom tomorrow

Theory is valuable, but real change is driven by action. Here are four practical activities that can be easily integrated into the learning process or homeroom lessons:

📊 Screen time log

Invite students to run a simple experiment for one week—track their screen time and activities (many phones do this automatically). Afterward, analyze the data together without judgment: how much of this time was purposeful work or creativity, and how much was mindless “scrolling”? The mere fact of awareness is often the first step toward habit change.

🧠 Algorithm detectives

Explore with students why their TikTok, Instagram, or YouTube feeds look the way they do. Why does the content shown to two classmates differ drastically? How does the system try to guess their preferences? Such an investigation brilliantly develops critical thinking and media literacy.

🔌 Experiment: “Tech-free day”

Agree on a joint challenge with the class—for example, 24 hours without social media or gaming. The next day, hold a discussion circle and reflect: What was the hardest part? What did you notice in yourself or others? What did you do that you usually don’t have time for?

🎨 Design thinking: “My ideal phone”

Let students become designers of their own relationship with their phone. Have them draw or describe their ideal day with technology: which apps help them learn or feel good, and which cause anxiety? What boundaries would they like to set for themselves? This is how we place responsibility back into their own hands.

The teacher’s role: Role model, not police officer

We can talk for hours about the harms of screen time, but children learn from what we do, not what we say. If a teacher places their phone face down in a visible place on the desk during class (or better yet, in a special box), it sends a stronger signal than any lecture.

Don’t hesitate to discuss your own personal digital challenges and rules with students as well (for example, “I don’t use my phone an hour before bedtime” or “I turn off notifications on weekends”). Seeing that even adults are actively working on their relationship with technology, students will understand that digital wellbeing is not a punishment—it is a tool for a successful and happy life.

Author: Gatis Šeršņevs · Miskola (SIA Laba satura skola) · Latvia · Updated: August 2026