From Digital Obsession to Digital Burnout in Second Language Acquisition

Introduction

With a beginning marked by large manufacturing and specialization in tasks, the digital revolution was ignited by industrialization, bringing global innovative technologies and massive outcomes to life. Emerging technology-enhanced facilities help promote the delivery of knowledge, enriched experiences, and practice. Obtaining knowledge, even the acquisition of foreign languages, through online tools is as easy as sitting on a couch and just scrolling down the screen; naturally, this comfort has turned into a screen obsession that is both a physical and psychological desire for the Internet.

In the context of digital language learning and teaching, technological advances have created devices and platforms that promote language acquisition. In addition to cyber addiction for instructional web surfing and databases related to target languages, social media is also the place where learners can, with just one click away, grasp an understanding of some handy content, including but not limited to, useful daily life phrases or grammar structures, high-frequency word acquisition, engaging listening tracks or podcasts, writing tips, and interesting reading texts for intensive and extensive comprehension, to name just a few. Learning is, to many, never an upsetting reason or result for digital language learners, as long as they pursue a life that is not derailed from an acceptable normal life. After technology-based language learning experienced such a climax in the early 2000s, the curve began to go down into an overwhelming sense of digital burnout. This lack of desire to be in front of the screen has been on the rise during the Covid-19 pandemic, as the nature of the human being requires one-on-one communication in a shared real environment. Other factors, including the learner’s inability and decreased motivation, an unstructured curriculum, a poor pedagogical background, constantly changing sociocultural dynamics, a lack of accessibility, and many others, all serve as hindering motives in e-learning and e-teaching. Besides these complexities of online learning and teaching, digital language acquisition significantly extends further where there is no certain delivery method of instruction among teachers.

Adding to these points, the significant disparity between how learners and teachers view the motivation to use technology in educational contexts remains a subject of dispute. Students may use technology in one or both of the following ways: The difference between “learning from” and “learning with” technology is that the former stresses the instrumental use of technology and the learner's relative passivity in the process, while the latter implies a more active engagement or interaction on the learners' side. “Teaching from” technology means teaching from inside a learning environment in a way that is interactive and immersive, while “teaching with” technology means using technology in language classes in a manner that is more of a tool.

With careful consideration of these factors, this chapter aims to provide readers with a valuable, well-founded, informative, and critically comprehensive overview and systematic analysis of the shift from the initial enthusiasm and social obsession of digital technologies to a growing sense of frustration, commonly referred to as global digital burnout. This examination of existing literature offers a critical evaluation of data from previous studies, shedding light on the underlying reasons for the enthusiasm surrounding digitalized learning while also delving into the concepts of digital obsession and burnout. It explores the causes, symptoms, impact on second language acquisition (SLA), and potential coping strategies related to digital burnout. Moreover, this review seeks to enhance our understanding of the phenomenon of digital burnout in SLA and promote the adoption of healthy and sustainable digital behaviors by advocating for appropriate policies and practices.

Serving as the blueprint for this systematic review, the following research questions were established:

• 1.

  What are the key factors contributing to the initial enthusiasm and social obsession surrounding digital technologies in the context of second language acquisition?

• 2.

  How does the transition from enthusiasm to global burnout manifest among individuals engaged in digitalized learning environments, and what are the underlying reasons for this shift?

• 3.

  What are the prevalent symptoms and manifestations of digital burnout among learners, educators, or professionals engaged in digital-intensive activities?

• 4.

  To what extent does digital burnout impact the process of second language acquisition?

• 5.

  What are the coping strategies employed by individuals to mitigate or manage digital burnout?