Labor panopticon, hyperconnection, and the right to digital disconnection: Implications for life and personal integrity under Article 66 of the Ecuadorian Constitution.
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.70577/asce.v4i4.535Keywords:
Digital panopticon; Work hyperconnectivity; Right to disconnect; Technological surveillance; Psychosocial risks; Personal integrity; Educational transformation.Abstract
This study examines the digital workplace panopticon, hyperconnectivity, and their intersections with the right to disconnect, focusing on their effects on personal life and individual integrity within the constitutional framework established by Article 66 in Ecuador. From an interdisciplinary perspective, it explores how technological surveillance in remote work, communication pressures, and expectations of constant availability shape new forms of power that influence workers’ psychological and social well-being, with particular attention to the education sector. A mixed-methods approach was employed. In the quantitative phase, a digital panopticon index with strong internal reliability (α = 0.88) was developed and used to conduct descriptive analyses, t-tests, ANOVAs, and correlations, which revealed a moderate level of perceived surveillance. The qualitative phase involved a thematic analysis addressing emotional exhaustion, diminished personal agency, and the absence of regulatory protections for leisure time. Findings confirm that hyperconnectivity constitutes an emerging psychosocial risk, supporting the study’s hypothesis and highlighting the need for institutional policies and regulatory frameworks that guarantee the right to digital disconnection. The study contributes to the development of complex systemic solutions by integrating technological, legal, sociolabor, and pedagogical dimensions, and it advances systemic transformation in education by offering guidance that strengthens teacher well-being, institutional ethics, and the protection of rights in highly digitalized environments.
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