Digital Life Balance

How have you coped with the new digital life? A just released report, the 2022 Deloitte Connectivity and Mobile Trends Study (3^rd ed.) (click here to read it), looks at this issue based on US households, but its findings are easily transferable into the Australian and NZ contexts given our similar technology experiences. It looks at the post-Covid experiences of households following the seismic shift to technology dependence during the worst of the pandemic. So where are we now?

The study focuses on three themes, which the led to some ongoing challenges and thoughts for going forward. The three major themes explored are:

1. Optimizing devices and connectivity:
   Following the violent move to technology, with all the trauma and associated steep learning curve, the report found that most have now come to a “truce” with technology and are working out what “devices they want to incorporate into their new balance of physical and digital.” Stating the obvious, most households are now using smart technology much more than pre-covid – the issue revolves around getting the balance right.
   
2. Evolving approaches to work and school
   The shift to remote working and learning caused by the pandemic has become somewhat permanent, but to what degree? Not surprisingly, workers are divided on the idea of a total return to the workplace. Consequently, a hybrid approach to work that permits a degree of flexibility where possibly is becoming the new normal. The abrupt move to remote learning caught many unawares resulting in a broad spectrum of experiences ranging from horrific to adequate. As time has permitted a more considered approach, and experience has now informed, the remote learning journey has improved, and elements of it are also here to stay.
   
3. Managing wellness:
   Many would say that the pandemic fast-tracked virtual healthcare and the extensive use of mobile apps to manage health and fitness. While identifying a number of challenges with virtual healthcare, many elements of it are here to stay. And interestingly 41% of the survey respondents own and use a smartwatch or fitness tracker.

The report also identified three major ongoing challenges with the irreversible integration of digital into our daily lives. These are:

• Security and privacy
• Screen overload
• Tech fatigue

The report concludes by raising a number of considerations that all parties involved in the development, use and regulation of our digital world need to take into account to both enhance and simplify the experiences of people’s digital lives.