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Hundreds of studies have already proven that excessive digital media use harms our well-being, inundates us with fake news, and deepens social polarization. A new, free online tool developed by the "Attention Revolution" movement offers a simple, personalized way to examine how technology usage truly affects your life.
Despite clear scientific evidence pointing to the mental, physical and social harms of unbalanced digital use, including increased social polarization, eroding personal well-being and widespread misinformation not only has the use of this media not decreased, but it has also tightened its grip and control over our lives, whether we want like it to or not.
To help users regain control over their digital consumption, reduce its negative impacts, and enhance its positive effects, the "Attention Revolution" movement designed a new online survey tool – The Israeli Digital Balance Index.
"We all feel that something has shifted in recent years. We sense it ourselves, see it in our children, and hear about it from friends and family. But it was hard to pinpoint what the exact problem is and how it affects us," explains Asaf Banner, CEO of the organization, to Ynet.
He refers to Dr. Micah Goodman, whose book The Attention Revolution explores the connection between how we use digital technology and the decline in our mental well-being and the increase in social polarization globally. “We realized we must examine how these global phenomenon's manifest in Israeli society, especially now, when both are at an unprecedented, and try to find a way to reduce them." says Banner
To this end, the movement enlisted the research company Q Behavioral Thinking and conducted a comprehensive study consisting of two parts: Creating an extensive knowledge map that reviews all recent studies on the subject worldwide in recent years, alongside a large-scale study involving 2,000 participants representing a sample of the Israeli population, examining parameters of mental well-being and issues of political-emotional polarization.
This combination allowed for a deep understanding of the connection between the use of digital technology and the mental and social aspects of users' lives. The study's findings led to the development of an innovative Israeli Digital Balance Index for measuring ones' digital balance.
"We discovered that the story is much more complex than 'how much time we spend on screen,'" claims Banner, "but also relates to questions like- why we use technology, where and when we do it, and how this usage integrates into our lives. From this comprehensive knowledge map, we were able to identify the key dimensions where digital use most significantly impacts our personal and social well-being, especially with regard to smartphones and social networks, which the index examines."
What is the Israeli Digital Balance Index?
The "Israeli Digital Balance Index" is a personalized online tool that essentially allows individuals to examine their relationship with digital technology and reveal how their digital behavior patterns affect their personal, familial, and social well-being. After completing a short online questionnaire, users receive a personal score along with the unique characteristics of their digital usage compared to the broader Israeli population. Additionally, the index offers a set of tools with proposed practical, tailored recommendations to improve the user's digital balance.
The index's recommendations are designed to help each person find their digital balance, which allows them to enjoy technology while reducing the negative impacts they experience, and assist them in each of the following areas: (1) achieving better control over screen time, (2) improving personal and familial well-being, (3) lowering daily stress levels, (4) creating a diverse and moderate digital environment, and (5) consuming high-quality and reliable digital content.
"The index represents a major step in understanding the impact of digital technology on our lives and, for the first time, offering personalized actionable steps to address them. The development of the index, which took about a year and a half and was completed during the war period, represents significant progress in our ability to identify and improve digital balance in Israeli society. Our hope is that the index will help us individuals and as a society not only in terms of mental well-being but also in reducing social polarization, by adopting recommendations for simple and feasible actions," concludes Banner.
The index is now available for public use on the Attention Revolution movement's website : https://keshev.online/madad
The “Attention Revolution” movement was established to enable the citizens of Israel to maximize the benefits of digital technology while minimizing the personal and social costs we pay from unbalanced digital use. The movement works to raise awareness of the political and psychological consequences of the “attention economy” and promote solutions and initiatives to address them.
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Dozens of organizations from across all sectors that seek to reduce the harmful effects of digital technology have already joined the “Attention Revolution” and are working together to promote beneficial solutions. These include municipalities and local authorities, businesses and social organizations, schools and parent associations, the IDF, youth movements, pre-army programs, and many more communities.