Digital self care as a tool for healthy online identity

Recently I updated my personal website, and I had so much fun with it. I redesigned pages, added links, refreshed the photos and fonts, and made the style of the entire site more cohesive. It was fantastic, a few hours very well spent.

I made a mental note to add this activity to my “tech interactions that make me feel better afterwards” list, a concept from one of my previous articles. I felt like I had just done a face mask or painted a picture.

This parallel struck me as significant. By doing digital things that improve my digital self, I feel better physically. Could this be a rough definition of digital self-care?

Digital self care is a loaded term. I don’t want to conjure up images of bitmojis getting massages or anything of the sort. If we explore the concept of online identity, it makes sense that a parallel would arise to explore what care means and looks like to the digital self.

The physical and digital selves are still part of one identity, even if they are distinct in ways and operate by different rules. You could say that digital self care is just self care, and you’d be right. However, by reframing the perspective on the digital, we are taking the differences of the physical and the digital into account and adjusting our self care actions accordingly.

For example, my online identity tends to be a bit more shy. I use my voice in very calculated ways and try not to inflate my ego too much. In order to nurture a part of my digital self that I’d like to improve, I boost my confidence by redesigning my website. I focus on its audience appeal and improving the aesthetics of how I’m perceived online. This act makes my identity more robust, cultivating an area of lack that I’ve recognized. I experience less tension because my digital self aligns more closely with my digital goals.

Self care doesn’t always have to mean turning your phone off. It could mean turning your attention toward the version of yourself that your phone reflects.

Digital self care is but one tool of promoting digital wellness, not a blanket term for encompassing all acts of growing a healthier relationship to the digital. Lighting a candle doesn’t eliminate the source of your stress, but it can help reframe your mindset and positively alter your environment. The same goes for acts of digital self care: more action is needed to address the problem itself, but we are working to find strategies to thrive in a digital world, navigated by a digital self.