**4. Digital well-being and "good" life in the cyberspace of internet**

The concept of digital well-being seen in Gui et al. is emerging right now, with communication stimuli overflow becoming hard to deal with [24]. Seeing how the internet is used now and how important it is for our communication and living world in the axiological context, we take this concept as undoubtedly relevant. These authors define and understand digital well-being as a state in which our subjective digital comfort is maintained by surplus of digital communication. In this state of well-being, individuals are able to use digital media to ensure their subjective comfort, safety, happiness and satisfaction. Such digital well-being secures general well-being of the subject in both hedonic and eudemonic perspective. It does not concentrate just on satisfaction and minimization of side effects of using digital media (hedonic dimension) but also on the ability to use this technology to present a meaningful help to one's own potential in life (eudemonic perspective) [24].

The way we handle digital media is, we believe, a key element for quality life. Theoretical approaches and empiric findings clearly identify a number of ways how media contents and media usage influence our everyday happiness, satisfaction with life, our effort to develop our personality and understand meaning of life, as Reinecke and Oliver point out [25]. They also argue that the way we use digital media and the internet is influenced by our skills, by competence and also by primary factors, such as self-control, media literacy, parent/child intervention, etc. [25]. All these are determined by social and cultural context that we experience [24]. Gui et al. point out that digital media, or technology, systematically shape our behaviour regardless of our features, and they also warn that in order to maintain

**45**

*Cyberspace as a New Living World and Its Axiological Contexts*

digital well-being or quality of life in cyberspace, we need to introduce and form

to quality of our life and digital well-being in the cyberspace of internet.

side effects of information overload, Gui et al. explain; complexity of modern media world wins this fight because self-control has always depended on moral values of the subject more than on any other competences. Therefore, we need to control digital stimuli and filter them so that they can serve our personal aims and well-being. We need to develop a new set of strategic resources, cognitive and metacognitive approaches and operational skills that influence our attention. These will lead to strategic approach in dealing with side effects of digital overcommunication. Such strategies should then serve as a prevention of stress caused by excessive information flow and also as a means to minimise wasting of time and attention on

As these authors explain, features that make digital technology or media useful (reliability, mobility, user-friendly approach and fast processing) can endanger our productivity and innovations but also our well-being as the stimuli patterns and patterns of individual reactions that are bound here are rather complex and specific. Combination of characteristics in this type of technology makes this cognitive and emotional dimension unprecedented and not neutral in relation to our opportunity to take part in a satisfactory communication practice. It seems to lead to a rapid and nonlinear use of information and communication. The authors warn that also those who are creative and have good social skills can constantly suffer from overcommunication [24], which, in our opinion, may be regarded as a risk that comes with our technically mediated internet-based interaction and communication in regards

Self-control in using digital technology is simply not enough for us to cope with

Forming of these new aspects of digital skills is certainly a positive sign; however, we believe that quality life cannot entirely depend just on them, even though they, no doubt, contribute to digital well-being. If then we really aim for "good life", meaning more in axiological and ethical than psychological context, we must go

We would argue that if we want to achieve "good life" in the internet cyberspace, based on high standards of morals and values, then the aspect of moral and humanly acceptable life, behaviour and actions, or good manners and positive principles, is relevant. We believe this is the condition for "ars vivendi". This is also the reason why we should use and improve elements that form it. We will be speak-

As the specific living world of the cyberspace of internet shows, each person that is involved deals with aspects of life that are, to a great extent, given. We believe that we, creative beings, have a duty to "give our life a meaning and ensure it is coherent with our experience" [26] also in the context of our living world. In this world, our individual interests and social roles should create a coherent, even though not

Deuze suggests that this life should mean a piece of art, and it should be our

that in the context of using digital media, or with our life in the digital universe of

<sup>6</sup> We share his idea-he believes, following Z. Bauman, M. Foucault or F. Nietzsche, that our life can be a piece of art in which we all are actors, willingly or unwillingly, whether we realise it or not, and regard-

Our attitude is similar, and we think

**5. "Ars vivendi" in the cyberspace of internet and education**

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.91907*

irrelevant activities in our everyday life [24].

ing about these elements in the following chapter.

life with ethic and aesthetic potential [10].6

even beyond.

complete, life story [9].

less of whether we enjoy it or not [10].

new aspects of digital skills [24].

#### *Cyberspace as a New Living World and Its Axiological Contexts DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.91907*

*Cyberspace*

of internet.

tive perception [21].

perspective) [24].

so-called digital well-being.

her coherence in time, which is necessary.

introduces a relevant question of interiority of the subject in cyberspace, or his or

Who we became or are becoming in the internet cyberspace does make a difference. The way we deal with "life in media", using Deuze's words [10]-what we can and what we actually do invest in our relation to the others, is important. By our self-projection, self-construction and self-presentation in cyberspace, we become a part of collective process of "learning to live", in which intersubjectivity is bound to our understanding of what is relevant and valuable. In this perspective, our attitude is similar to that of Deuze [10]-we understand that it is reasonable to see self-expression of individuals today as more and more important in the cyberspace

According to Baeva, analysis of the nature of change of values in modern man reveals that rise of e-culture has led to construction of new values (electronic communication, e-spare time, e-creativity and so on) [22]. However, it is necessary to point out that cyber experience also brings certain risks presented by influence of the very technology, yet these risks cannot be specified in the reflection of cyber experience because they influence its value. We should not forget that also M. McLuhan speaks of self-amputation in connection with technological extension of man [23]. Similarly, also Bystřický points out that it seems we will pay for technological development by reducing one of the dimensions of our living world. Each new discovery in technology influences our personal living world and social system and imprints its own perspective onto the map of our individual and collec-

Therefore, to get the maximum advantage of cyber experience, it is important to be able to cope with various effects. Here, authors such as Gui et al. [24] define the

The concept of digital well-being seen in Gui et al. is emerging right now, with communication stimuli overflow becoming hard to deal with [24]. Seeing how the internet is used now and how important it is for our communication and living world in the axiological context, we take this concept as undoubtedly relevant. These authors define and understand digital well-being as a state in which our subjective digital comfort is maintained by surplus of digital communication. In this state of well-being, individuals are able to use digital media to ensure their subjective comfort, safety, happiness and satisfaction. Such digital well-being secures general well-being of the subject in both hedonic and eudemonic perspective. It does not concentrate just on satisfaction and minimization of side effects of using digital media (hedonic dimension) but also on the ability to use this technology to present a meaningful help to one's own potential in life (eudemonic

The way we handle digital media is, we believe, a key element for quality life. Theoretical approaches and empiric findings clearly identify a number of ways how media contents and media usage influence our everyday happiness, satisfaction with life, our effort to develop our personality and understand meaning of life, as Reinecke and Oliver point out [25]. They also argue that the way we use digital media and the internet is influenced by our skills, by competence and also by primary factors, such as self-control, media literacy, parent/child intervention, etc. [25]. All these are determined by social and cultural context that we experience [24]. Gui et al. point out that digital media, or technology, systematically shape our behaviour regardless of our features, and they also warn that in order to maintain

**4. Digital well-being and "good" life in the cyberspace of internet**

**44**

digital well-being or quality of life in cyberspace, we need to introduce and form new aspects of digital skills [24].

As these authors explain, features that make digital technology or media useful (reliability, mobility, user-friendly approach and fast processing) can endanger our productivity and innovations but also our well-being as the stimuli patterns and patterns of individual reactions that are bound here are rather complex and specific. Combination of characteristics in this type of technology makes this cognitive and emotional dimension unprecedented and not neutral in relation to our opportunity to take part in a satisfactory communication practice. It seems to lead to a rapid and nonlinear use of information and communication. The authors warn that also those who are creative and have good social skills can constantly suffer from overcommunication [24], which, in our opinion, may be regarded as a risk that comes with our technically mediated internet-based interaction and communication in regards to quality of our life and digital well-being in the cyberspace of internet.

Self-control in using digital technology is simply not enough for us to cope with side effects of information overload, Gui et al. explain; complexity of modern media world wins this fight because self-control has always depended on moral values of the subject more than on any other competences. Therefore, we need to control digital stimuli and filter them so that they can serve our personal aims and well-being. We need to develop a new set of strategic resources, cognitive and metacognitive approaches and operational skills that influence our attention. These will lead to strategic approach in dealing with side effects of digital overcommunication. Such strategies should then serve as a prevention of stress caused by excessive information flow and also as a means to minimise wasting of time and attention on irrelevant activities in our everyday life [24].

Forming of these new aspects of digital skills is certainly a positive sign; however, we believe that quality life cannot entirely depend just on them, even though they, no doubt, contribute to digital well-being. If then we really aim for "good life", meaning more in axiological and ethical than psychological context, we must go even beyond.

We would argue that if we want to achieve "good life" in the internet cyberspace, based on high standards of morals and values, then the aspect of moral and humanly acceptable life, behaviour and actions, or good manners and positive principles, is relevant. We believe this is the condition for "ars vivendi". This is also the reason why we should use and improve elements that form it. We will be speaking about these elements in the following chapter.
