At the end of my last lecture before the Lunar New Year, I wished my students well and jokingly said, “Let’s hope that I don’t have to teach in a mask when we return from the holiday.” Never had we thought it was the last time we would meet in person that semester. Because of Covid-19, universities have been closed and most academics have been working from home since February. My typical day in the past semester revolved around live-streaming my lectures and attending online meetings. Academic conferences I had planned to attend overseas have gone virtual. Some say being a “digital scholar” has become the new normal because of the pandemic. Are we really ready to go digital, though? In my recent research project “Knowledge construction and writing online: exploring digital academic discourse and practices in Hong Kong”, I asked academics in Hong Kong to share their experiences and other thoughts about going digital in their profession. Many feel rather ambivalent. While embracing the opportunities offered by digital media, they have reservations. For example, university teachers with small children or other family members working from home have found online teaching particularly challenging. On top of that, they have the pressure of publicising their research widely to generate more “impact” in the non-academic sphere. That is why many academics around the world also disseminate their research through online means, such as writing research blogs and promoting themselves on Twitter and ResearchGate. That means we are investing additional time and energy in developing social media profiles even after the long process of writing up and publishing our research in traditional journals and books. Another concern is privacy . The academics in my study have expressed concerns about how and where their online content is circulated. All these result in fatigue and anxiety, as reported by multiple colleagues in my research interviews. While I trust that universities have already provided technical support in preparing staff to go online, academics’ mental readiness and well-being should also be taken care of as that can severely impair the quality of teaching and learning. Carmen Lee, associate professor, Chinese University of Hong Kong