Digital wellbeing in the Czech Republic: on the road to balance and resilience in the online world

In today's digital age, children are more vulnerable than ever, and the topic of their well-being online is gaining more and more urgency. According to a 2025 report by Save the Children and the Vodafone Foundation, children across Europe are increasingly exposed to digital stressors such as cyberbullying, disinformation, addictive design features and harmful social comparisons - all of which contribute to rising levels of anxiety, depression and behavioural issues.

Against this backdrop, the members of DigiKoalice, the Czech National Coalition for Digital Skills and Jobs, came together to discuss and come up new guidance for teachers and students to navigating the technology world - so that it brings them closer to their goals and not add another layer of stress. The key? Not to ban the digital world per se, but rather, to build digital competences and external resilience in children and youngsters.

The topic of digital wellbeing in education is hardly a novelty, but a long-term priority that the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MEYS) has been actively addressing. The main question then, becomes what can we do for our children and youngsters, when all the recent figures point to a clear increase in anxiety and mental insecurity as a result of an increasingly digital world.

The online world as a mirror of reality

Several key contributions shaped DigiKoalice's meeting. Adéla Lábusová from Jules and Jim, z.ú. presented the training course “The Labyrinth of the Network and the Paradise of the Heart”. The course adopts a storytelling approach to serve as a guide to teachers and parents on how to best help children navigate towards healthy screen use.

Lábusová drew attention to the Goldilocks hypothesis, which suggests that moderate use of technology can even be beneficial for the well-being of an individual, and negative impacts only escalate with an excessive number of hours per day. The fundamental finding is that technology actually has very little impact on children's overall well-being compared to factors from the physical world. “Most of what happens online is just a mirror of what happens offline”, Lábusová noted, meaning that digital wellbeing is now placed in a state where an individual consciously incorporates technology into life so that it leads to their overall health.

Anew Concept for Promoting Digital Wellbeing in Education was also presented, providing schools with a comprehensive methodological framework for the healthy, safe and meaningful use of technology. It contains a definition of digital wellbeing, the concept of its support, a set of specific measures for schools, recommendations for incorporating the topic into school documents, support for teachers, pupils and parents, and examples of activities usable across subjects. It helps schools move the topic from random prevention actions to systemic work with school culture, rules, teaching, and the support of the entire school community. This concept was developed at the National Pedagogical Institute (NPI CR) within the project NPO 3.1 -AIDIG, in cooperation with the Partnership for Education 2030+.

International context versus regional experience: connecting the dots

The international dimension was brought to the discussion by Irena Palánová (NPI CR), who introduced the European project TechWell. This international project is funded by Erasmus+ (Policy Experimentation) and focuses on digital wellbeing in education. The Czech Republic is significantly ahead of partner countries involved in the programme in terms of conceptualisation and promotion of digital wellbeing, while in some Western European countries (e.g. Italy or Greece) still lacks a single national consensus. On the TechWell platform, parents and educators can find an extensive methodological resistance, scaled down based on pupil level.

Blanka Kozáková from the regional educational institution KVIC shared her experiences from the Moravian-Silesian Region, where an extensive 40-hour course for teachers focused on safe work on the Internet, social networks and influence of influencers, was just piloted. Kozáková pointed out an interesting phenomenon: the teaching community seems to be starting to become allergic to the word ‘wellbeing’. Therefore, it seems more effective in practice to use terms such as psychological resilience, stress management or overall health.

Cybersecurity and the role of technology: resilience in the spotlight

The security expertise was complemented by Tereza Šamanová (CzechInno), who presented the network of European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIHs). These hubs offer schools and public organisations free analysis, consultation and training on cybersecurity and resilience, including on the topic of security in an era, increasingly shaped by AI's development and uptake. For those in the Czech republic, the services of the Cyber Security Hub can be a good starting point to learning about security in an organisational context.

The final discussion showed that digital wellbeing does not mean rejecting technology, but using it to recognise its benefits and risks. Only then can we integrate them within our lives in such a way so they support our overall health, personal development and our accountability towards ourselves, others, and the world. Imagine for instance a group of children learning technical skills, using their mobile phones and AI tools to search for manual woodworking instructions. In this case, the digital tool helps to build the physical world, and not the other way round.