DIGITAL HEALTH AND WELLNESS AS A DIMENSION OF DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP: A CIVIC EDUCATION PERSPECTIVE AMONG INDONESIA UPPER SECONDARY STUDENTS
Suriaman (a*), Cecep Darmawan (a), Sapriya (a), Karim Suryadi (a), Nisrina Nurul Insani (a), T Heru Nurgiansah (b), Farid Wajdi (c)

a) Pendidikan Kewarganegaraan, Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, Kota Bandung 40154, Indonesia
b) Pendidikan Pancasila dan Kewarganegaraan, Universitas PGRI Yogyakarta, Kota Yogyakarta, Indonesia
c) Pendidikan Pancasila dan Kewarganegaraan, Universitas Sembilanbelas November Kolaka, Kolaka, Indonesia

*suriamanagus1990[at]upi.edu

Abstract

Although upper secondary students are increasingly exposed to digital environments, such exposure is not always accompanied by adequate digital health practices. This issue is critical because digital health and wellness constitutes an important dimension of digital citizenship, yet it remains underexamined from a civic education perspective. This study aims to map students^ digital health and wellness and examine whether it differs across school types. Using a descriptive-comparative quantitative design, data were collected from 142 tenth-grade students enrolled in public senior high schools, Islamic senior high schools, vocational high schools, and private schools through a five-item Likert-scale instrument. The instrument demonstrated good reliability (Cronbach^s alpha = .878). The findings indicate that students^ digital health and wellness was generally high (M = 4.21, SD = 0.62). The highest mean was found in students^ awareness of health risks associated with excessive digital device use (M = 4.32), whereas the lowest mean concerned the use of digital features or applications to manage digital health (M = 4.13). A Kruskal-Wallis test revealed significant differences across school types (H(3) = 19.77, p < .001). The study concludes that the central issue lies not in low awareness, but in the gap between awareness and digital self-regulation practices. These findings provide an empirical basis for strengthening digital well-being within civic education through a digital citizenship framework.

Keywords: civic education- digital citizenship- digital health and wellness- upper secondary students- student wellbeing

Topic: Student Wellbeing (Mental Health and Student Counselling