Milyaeva, Regina Penner, Anastasia Gulevataya and Nikita Lopatin.

[tanjimajuha20]

South Ural State University has developed a new application, "Digital Asceticism," for high school students and junior university students. It allows them to reduce their dependence on gadgets and find themselves in the online world. This was reported by the university's press service.

Digital addiction or dependence on gadgets is one of the challenges facing modern humanity. According to international researchers, at least 34-39% of adults and up to 87% of teenagers in developed countries are to some extent subject to phubbing – an addiction when a person constantly turns to a gadget during a conversation with another person, while walking, often spending time aimlessly scrolling through the news feed.

The Digital Asceticism mexico whatsapp number database methodology helps students effectively integrate their online and real-world activities to improve their quality of life and learn to distinguish between the real and the virtual.


The application consists of several parts. Each part is designed to be completed within a week. This is an introductory block, a block on monitoring your own digital footprint, which each Internet user leaves behind, a block on surviving cyberbullying, a block on developing critical thinking, and a block on taking care of yourself.

Every day, participants must read quotes from famous philosophers: from the ancient Stoics, Seneca, Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus to thinkers of the last century Paul Tillich, Erich Fromm, Pavel Florensky.

Quotes must not only be read, but also understood in the context of the day – and here the student himself has the floor; he must keep a philosophical diary, describing his own thoughts and deeds.

The student is also offered exercises that teach philosophical practices, the method of slow reading, breathing techniques, and freewriting – written reflection over a certain period of time, which helps to find a way out of a difficult situation.

As a result of working with the application, a young Internet user will learn to identify stereotypes, recognize manipulation of consciousness, and resist bullying on social networks.

The application was tested during a pedagogical experiment on digital asceticism in the ninth grade of the school MOU Secondary School No. 50 in the city of Chelyabinsk.

In 2024, it is planned to test the application in more than 500 schools in the Chelyabinsk region.

The results of the study are planned for publication in highly rated journals: "Galaktika Media", "Shag", European Journal of Contemporary Education.

Using philosophical practices to overcome psychological problems is a global trend, but the Digital Asceticism project as a mobile application in Russian is unique.

The Digital Asceticism app can be installed for free on Android smartphones via RuStore.

Work on the project is carried out with the support of the grant of the President of the Russian Federation for young scientists - candidates of science "Digital anthropology: theoretical and applied aspects", as well as with the support of the Russian Science Foundation.