Digital disconnection and university teaching online in times of pandemic for COVID-19: an illusion more than a reality

The declaration of the state of alarm about the COVID-19 pandemic has meant that work activity is carried out in a telematic way, in the collectives in which it has been possible. One of them is the university sphere, in which the teaching staff has moved from the classroom to the virtual world. The right to digital disconnection provided for in Organic Law 3/2018, of 5 December, on Personal Data Protection and Digital Guarantee leaves many issues in the air that make it difficult to implement this right, together with its lack of development within the university. In this paper we intend to reflect on what has been more an illusion than a reality, addressing its shortcomings, limitations and lack of guarantees of this right, since in this scenario that we have lived we have not been able to disconnect at any time. We have to take into account that the scenario that we have encountered has not been accompanied by measures, instructions, or protocols in which the right to digital disconnection is contemplated, and that the increase in hours dedicated to online teaching has been much higher than if it had been face-to-face teaching. Issues such as the difficulty of reconciling work activity with family life in a framework of virtual activities with a continuous, excessive connection to the internet determines that it is necessary to establish legal and personal limits for the exercise of this right to digital disconnection and that have recently been determined in the Royal Decree-Law 28/2020, of September 22, on distance work, and the Royal Decree-Law 29/2020, of September 29, on urgent measures regarding teleworking in Public Administrations and human resources in the National Health System to face the health crisis caused by COVID-19.