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Digital Wellbeing: Elevating Our Relationships with Wonder


Last month, I led an annual digital wellbeing retreat for leaders in New Hampshire, on a loon-friendly lake near Franconia notch. Traditionally called The Great Escape, the name prompted a thought: What are we escaping from? Instead of fleeing from technology, the sessions I designed challenged us to rethink our relationships with devices, to strengthen our connections with each other mediated by tech, and ultimately, to re-fashion our integrated wholeness with ourselves.

After all, we are biological. We aren’t in nature, we are nature.

As curious learners and leaders, we can invite better forms of connection, empowered by our human imaginations. I teach about wellbeing and technology at Stanford, and I have written a new book called Digital Wellbeing: Empowering Connection With Wonder and Imagination in the Age of AI to invite the conversation to deepen.

This new book addresses the rise of AI and spatial computing, demystifying terms and providing key strategies that address their use while keeping our health, creativity, and relationships as top priorities. Many of us are following the trends, concerned with the critical rise of a global loneliness epidemic. We’re dismayed by friends, family, and colleagues drawn to the anxiety-ridden lure of screens and devices, which increase the noise in ways that can be disruptive rather than awe-inspiring. Rather than chalk it up to tech being evil, there’s a more complex and beautiful dialogue to be had here.

The notion of “digital detox” is antiquated and misleading, because digital itself can be the opposite of toxic – it can be a beautiful space of wonder and delight, as experiential educational computing pioneer Seymour Papert well knew when he created programs including Lifelong Kindergarten at MIT. It’s our choices and mindlessness about the rhythms of our physical-digital (“phygital”) lives that are asking for a shift. The time is now.

At the sessions in New Hampshire’s mountains, we had virtual reality headsets for storied experiences and imaginative explorations. We also went outside on scavenger hunts. The focus wasn’t on disconnecting from digital tools—it was on integrating them into our wellness-prioritized three-dimensional lifestyle.

Digital Wellbeing invites us to elevate to a new creative plane. We can’t keep doing things the way they’ve always been done. This mission is one that we all share: to empower better leadership, heal disconnection, cultivate deeper relationships, and nurture wonder. The loneliness epidemic isn’t solved by increasing social chatter. We’re invited to explore richer dialogues, intentional engagement, and reimagining how we approach tech. That’s where this book comes in—it’s filled with insights and questions designed to inspire these important conversations.

One of the book’s core principles is that where intention meets attention, we can create a more fulfilling life. Ellen Langer, the Harvard expert on mind-body connection, reminds us that mindfulness is closely linked to actively noticing new things. In today’s world, our technology can help us channel this curiosity if used thoughtfully. We just need the right framework—one that Digital Wellbeing provides—to guide us toward more intentional, awe-filled interactions.

If you’re looking for practical ways to enhance awe-inspired wellbeing, source creativity, and navigate our increasingly digital world, Digital Wellbeing offers a resource for meaningful transformation. Let’s elevate how we live and lead in this new age, not just surviving but thriving together.

Find “Digital Wellbeing: Empowering Connection With Wonder and Imagination in the Age of AI” here.

-Caitlin

Celebrating launch week right now! Caitlin Krause is an MEA alum, global speaker, author, and experience designer who specializes in wellbeing, innovation, technology, and leadership, teaching digital wellbeing by design at Stanford. Founder of MindWise and author of Digital Wellbeing: Empowering Connection with Wonder and Imagination in the Age of AI (Wiley, 2024), she advises leading organizations like TED, LinkedIn, Google, and the U.S. Air Force on navigating the future with wellbeing, creativity, and collaboration.

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