Digital Wellbeing in Higher Education: A Sufi Approach as a Strategy to Overcome Information Overload

Abstract

This study examines digital well-being among university students amid increasing information overload in digital learning environments. While digital transformation has expanded access to education, it has also intensified challenges such as technostress, digital fatigue, and fragmented attention. Existing self-regulation approaches, largely rooted in Western mindfulness, may not fully address the needs of Muslim students whose experiences are shaped by Islamic spiritual values. Using an exploratory qualitative design with an interpretative phenomenological orientation, data were collected from 18 students across three Indonesian universities through semi-structured interviews and reflective digital diaries. Reflexive thematic analysis revealed that information overload is experienced as continuous cross-channel exposure that blurs boundaries between academic and personal life, leading to cognitive and emotional exhaustion and a shift in learning meaning toward task completion. Sufi practices—dhikr, muraqabah, and tazkiyatun nafs—emerged as effective self-regulation strategies by fostering calmness, attentional focus, impulse control, and intentionality in learning. The findings highlight digital wellbeing as an integration of cognitive capacity, emotional balance, and spiritual clarity, and underscore the need for more holistic and contextually grounded digital learning ecosystems.