Characteristics, Mechanisms and Mitigation Strategies for Digital Burden Among University Students

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-551-5_81How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Digital Burden; Inherent Mechanism; Mitigation Strategy

Abstract

With the advent of the digital technology era, college students-who serve as core participants in digital learning and daily life-have access to the conveniences brought by digital technologies, yet they are concurrently confronted with an increasingly heavy digital burden. This burden is primarily manifested in three aspects: the deepening of digital dependence, the prevalence of digital anxiety, as well as the attendant challenges including the attenuation of critical thinking ability and the emergence of privacy security crises. The inherent mechanism of this phenomenon originates from the intricate interaction among three core factors: the structural mismatch between supply and demand in the digital ecosystem, the structural imbalance in students’ digital literacy, and the external pressures imposed by the profit-oriented operational logic of digital platforms. To systematically mitigate college students’ digital burden, it is crucial to construct a tripartite collaborative governance framework involving individuals, higher education institutions, and the whole society. On the individual level, students should focus on improving their digital literacy and self-governance capabilities, while fostering a rational attitude toward digital technologies. For higher education institutions, universities are required to optimize the digital teaching management model and improve the digital literacy education system. From the societal perspective, relevant sectors ought to strengthen the regulation of digital platform development, cultivate a sound digital culture, and provide diversified digital support services. This integrated governance approach will help build a more sustainable digital environment that facilitates the holistic development of college students and their positive adaptation to the digital era.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Anlong Shi
AU  - Pei Li
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/03/26
TI  - Characteristics, Mechanisms and Mitigation Strategies for Digital Burden Among University Students
BT  - Proceeding of 2025 8th International Conference on Humanities Education and Social Sciences (ICHESS 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 744
EP  - 754
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-551-5_81
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-551-5_81
ID  - Shi2026
ER  -