DIGITAL STRESS AMONG SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL LEARNERS IN A PRIVATE SCHOOL IN NORTHERN LUZON: BASIS FOR A GUIDANCE INTERVENTION PROGRAM
Keywords:
digital stress, senior high school students, availability stress, approval anxiety, fear of missing out, connection overload, online vigilance, guidance intervention program, PhilippinesAbstract
This descriptive-comparative study examined the level of digital stress among senior high school students at Saint Ferdinand College, Ilagan Campus, during School Year 2025–2026 and used the findings to inform a proposed guidance intervention program. Using a G*Power-derived, stratified random sample of 159 students from the Academic Track (ABM, HUMSS, and STEM strands, Grades 11 and 12), digital stress was measured with the 24-item Digital Stress Scale for Adolescents across five domains: availability stress, approval anxiety, fear of missing out (FoMO), connection overload, and online vigilance. Descriptive statistics showed that respondents generally experienced an average level of digital stress overall (58.5%) and across all five domains, with connection overload (28.9% “high”) and approval anxiety (10.1% “very high”) showing the largest proportions of students at elevated stress levels. Chi-square tests of independence found no statistically significant association between digital stress and sex, grade level, or average daily screen time in any domain (all p > .05), indicating that digital stress was broadly distributed across these socio-demographic groups rather than concentrated within them. These findings, anchored on Hall et al.'s (2021) digital stress framework and Lazarus and Folkman's (1984) Transactional Model of Stress, informed the development of “Digital Balance,” a five-session, school-based guidance intervention program designed to build students' awareness of digital stress, self-regulation skills, and healthy digital habits. The results support a preventive, universal (rather than targeted) approach to digital well-being programming in senior high school guidance and counseling services.
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