Tea with a Dragon, or On the Trail of Digital Hygiene. Episode 1: On Handwashing, Mindwashing and Neurons Cleaning

Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis. Do you know this gentleman? It was he, working at the Vienna Maternity Clinic and observing disparities in maternal mortality rates between this clinic and another Viennese maternity clinic, who began to ponder what might be the cause of such differences.

It turned out that at one of the clinics, doctors had the habit of visiting the maternity ward after their visits to the autopsy room. Since they did not wash their hands before examinations, the chances of infecting patients were higher compared to the clinic where no autopsy activities were conducted before patient examinations.

Semmelweis's experiment showed that indeed, hand disinfection improves the survival rate of women in the ward. However, long story short, the opposing option prevailed at that time, and Semmelweis's theory did not gain traction in the scientific community. As a result, our hero's health declined due to significant criticism from his peers.

Over the centuries, handwashing has taken various forms. In ancient times, it often had a ritualistic dimension, although it's difficult to believe that our ancestors did not wash their hands at other times as well. Soap for handwashing as we know it appeared in the 19th century, although in a somewhat different form it was also used in ancient times for other purposes. Now it is hard to imagine not washing our hands after using the toilet or before preparing food, although our handwashing rarely resembles the 30-second thorough washes known for doctors and widely advocated, especially since the advent of COVID.

Alright, but why are we talking about handwashing here? What does it have to do with midwashing, cleaning neurons, and above all, digital hygiene?

Handwashing is a fundamental behavior we can classify as personal hygiene. It has evolved over centuries, had its supporters and skeptics, sometimes had an additional spiritual dimension, now it rather has a practical, health-related dimension, although symbolic handwashing during rituals or religious practices can still be found in religions. In short, after many centuries, it has entered our daily lives, and few debate the necessity of handwashing; rather, the focus is on its quality.

As for digital hygiene, we are only at the beginning of this journey. Challenges are growing, and we are seeking ways to navigate this „new, wonderful world.”

In the Need of the Cyber Health Habits

Looking at internet usage statistics, over the past twenty years, we have seen significant growth—from just over one billion people in 2005 to five and a half billion in 2024. (Source: Statistica.com, access: 22.02.2025)

For comparison: during this time, the Earth's population grew from 6.5 billion in 2005 to just over 8 billion in 2024. (Source: Worldometers.info)

Broadly speaking, technology and the World Wide Web are developing at an increasingly rapid pace. The first computer—ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer)—was built between 1943 and 1945. The official birth of the internet is considered to be January 1, 1983, when the ARPANET network and the Defense Data Network (the latter belonging to the U.S. Department of Defense) switched to the TCP/IP protocol, enabling communication between various computers and networks.

The beginnings of the World Wide Web date back to 1989. The first specification for HTML was published online in 1991, and in 1993, CERN released the WWW into the public domain. This „slow” start gained momentum over the years—one only needs to look at the evolution of programming languages, the pace of processor development, and the speed at which new social media platforms emerged (LinkedIn – 2002, Facebook – 2004, Twitter – 2006, Instagram – 2010, Snapchat – 2011, TikTok – 2017—not to mention the many lesser-known platforms that rose and fell along the way).

Lately, the rapid advancement of language models has been breaking records, and if we look at a graph of this growth, it resembles an exponentially increasing function. We are at a point where this growth is becoming more and more dynamic. (Source: Wikipedia, access: February 2025)

And here’s another statistic: A report from Poland’s Central Statistical Office (GUS) covering data from 2005–2007 stated that 40% of households in the European Union had internet access. The 2024 report now puts that number at 93%.

Given how little time has passed since computers and the internet became household staples, humanity has had very little time to develop behaviors that could be considered the digital equivalent of handwashing. Despite the increasing ability to share knowledge and influence the development of health-conscious behaviors, evolutionarily, we are still beings adapted to an entirely different pace of life and information processing.

For comparison: Our evolutionary paths diverged from gorillas around 9 million years ago, from chimpanzees and bonobos about 7–6 million years ago, and our brains evolved into a shape similar to their current form roughly 35,000 years ago.

In a world where our personal computers and smartphones provide us with an endless stream of information—where even a tiny fraction of that stream contains more stimuli than our ancestors experienced in their entire lifetimes—our brains have every right to struggle to keep up. The brain’s adaptability, known as neuroplasticity, helps to some extent, but it cannot replace evolutionary changes—and those require far more time than just a few or even a dozen human generations.

This is why, just as developing certain hygiene practices—like handwashing—was once crucial for our health, today, it is essential to implement practices that serve as digital handwashing. Or rather, digital mindwashing, since it is our brain, with its billions of neurons, that suffers the most in this situation.

This is where digital hygiene comes in— a set of behaviors designed to help us use modern tools in a way that is safe for both our bodies and our minds. And this podcast, as part of Not The Hidden Wiki, will be dedicated to the topic of digital hygiene.

In the upcoming episodes, we’ll explore what digital hygiene is, what happens when it’s neglected, and how to assess whether we are taking care of it properly. We’ll examine the challenges that make maintaining digital hygiene difficult and the consequences of its absence. I will also introduce exercises that will help you reflect on your own habits—and, if you choose, modify them to make the digital world less overwhelming for your body and mind.

Our mascot and guiding symbol will be the Golden Cyberdragon, peacefully enjoying tea in nature. This dragon lives in two worlds—both digital and analog. Its superpower lies in bridging these two worlds in a way that is healthy for both body and spirit, helping us navigate the cyber challenges of the modern world.