What is digital flourishing?
I’d like to try answering that one again.
You’ve had to wait a little longer than normal because our team was at SXSW this week! We had a great time and it was so good to be together.
Why you're getting this: You subscribed to an email list on my website or followed this Substack. You can unsubscribe at any time, and I won't be upset. I won't even know!
In this issue: I summarize “digital flourishing,” reflect on why we still want to explore “digital thriving” and try to give some context for why it was so embarrassing that I couldn’t easily summarize it at foo Camp. I end with Lewis kisses, enjoy!
RECAP
Thanks to everyone who reached out with empathies for my Clint's Circle calamity at foo camp a couple of weeks ago. I heard from folks who'd had similar experiences, friends who were proud of me, and those who didn’t understand what the big deal was but appreciated following along.
For those who were confused by why I was so embarrassed a couple weeks ago, let me explain. Digital flourishing is an established concept in academic literature. There are peer-reviewed papers about it. There’s a scientifically validated measurement for it. There’s even an institute that provides training, certification, and a free online assessment tool. The person who asked me to summarize it was asking a reasonable question. He had a right to expect me to know about digital flourishing and to be able to articulate why we’re doing the Listening Tour. He may have even been making sure we weren’t taking a concept that already exists (digital flourishing) and putting a new name on it (digital thriving) to get unearned recognition.
GIANT SHOULDERS
Have you ever heard someone say they “stand on the shoulders of giants?” This phrase usually refers to how scientists build upon what came before them.
For example: If you wanted to study squid (🦑), you wouldn’t have to start with the basics of marine biology. You wouldn’t have to invent the microscope. You could leverage the extensive research and tools already established in the field of teuthology and build upon that. If you discover a new species of squid, that discovery is only possible through the work of many others who came before you. As Isaac Newton said of René Descartes and Stephen Hawking said of Isaac Newton, “If I see further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”
The concept of “digital flourishing” stands on the shoulders of some very big giants, particularly self-determination theory and positive psychology. Let’s tackle self-determination theory first. SDT, as the cool kids call it, is the theory that we have three basic psychological needs: autonomy, competence, and relatedness.
If you know of Maslow’s “Hierarchy of Needs,”1 it shares some common ground with SDT (though Maslow included physiological needs like food and shelter in his framework, also SDT isn’t a hierarchy, but I digress). SDT was introduced in the 1970s by a pair of psychologists, Edward Deci and Richard Ryan. Deci and Ryan theorized that fulfilling these needs is necessary for our well-being and growth.
In the 1990s, a psychologist named Martin Seligman coined the term “positive psychology.” At a time when psychology was focused on mental disorders, positive psychology focused on the conditions we need to mentally flourish. It’s where the “flourishing” in “digital flourishing” comes from. Seligman defined flourishing as feeling well and doing well at the same time.2
The concept of digital flourishing builds upon both of these “giants.” It helps us see how our digital behaviors are tied to our basic psychological needs. It focuses on what we need to flourish in our digital lives instead of looking at what’s wrong. Digital flourishing is feeling like we can stop scrolling and actually being able to stop. It’s feeling like we have a purpose and having our digital habits contribute to that purpose. It’s both feeling connected and being connected.
SO, UHM, IS DIGITAL THRIVING ANY DIFFERENT?
We think so, but we’re actively figuring that out. That’s what the Listening Tour is all about. We love the positive orientation of digital flourishing. We think SDT is a fascinating and intellectually rigorous way to understand the effects of our digital habits. And we still have some open questions that extend beyond our individual tech habits. Questions like, well, the ones we’re asking:
Is thriving online different from thriving in general?
Is thriving in a world filled with tech and connectivity even possible?
What would it look like if everyone was digitally thriving? How would we know?
If, at the end of the Listening Tour, we end up in the same place of understanding as the scholars who study digital flourishing, we’ll have done one heck of a replication study,3 and we’ll happily hop on the shoulders of the digital flourishing giant. And if we find new perspectives, we hope they’ll inform each other as we all work to better understand living well with technology.
IRB UPDATE
One benefit of taking so long to post this issue is that I received a note JUST today that it was 🥁🥁🥁 approved!
By the time I send the next issue, I’ll have a link to sign up ready!
p.s. As always, here’s a glimpse into making my own thriving visible. My friend Nina asked if I would draw a map for her book Mother-Daughter Murder Night and so I spent last weekend working on it (with occasional breaks for Lewis kisses).
Despite it’s popularity, turns out Maslow’s hierarchy of needs was incomplete and unfinished. Stay tuned for a future issue where I’ll share more about how it’s evolved.
Please allow me to overgeneralize positive psychology here for the sake of brevity. This post is already quite long and I didn’t want to overwhelm with details!
Nothing wrong with it! We need more of those.
"The Monster at the End of this Book." We have a 1.5 year-old who wanted me to read that book in my Grover voice FIVE TIMES the other night. I'm getting hoarse! :-)