In the era of digital connectivity, the "Always Online" culture has profoundly blurred the boundaries between work and personal life for contemporary individuals. As a key group responsible for implementing the mission of "Three-Wholeness Education" (Education through Total Participation, Entire Process, and All Dimensions), counselors in China are chronically affected by the "Always Online" persistent stressor that poses significant predicaments to their work-life balance and mental health. However, existing studies suffer from methodological limitations and one-sided causal analyses, failing to fully elucidate the complexities of the work-life balance issues faced by this group. This study employs the qualitative research method of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Utilizing NVivo 15 software, it conducts triangulation validation through in-depth interviews with 24 university counselors, supplemented by 132 work scenario data points and 10 organizational system documents, to systematically explore the essence of counselors' work-life balance predicaments under the occupational norm of being "Always Online". Findings identify three typical scenarios of "Always Online"-"emergency crisis response", "daily routine communication", and "communication of administrative tasks"-which are frequent, sudden, and inevitable. These scenarios collectively trigger work-life balance predicaments manifested as "erosion of life boundaries", "depletion of psychological resources", and "intensified role conflict". While all scenarios contribute to the overall predicaments, each has a distinct primary impact: "emergency crisis response" drive "depletion of psychological resources", "communication of administrative tasks" uniquely cause "intensified role conflict", and "daily routine communication" most significantly "erosion of life boundaries". The study further reveals that the root cause is not "Always Online" per se, but a three-dimensional mechanism in which role overload (foundation), institutional absence (key), and tool alienation (medium) interact, making perpetual online status a necessary, compulsory, and inevitable norm. Individual coping strategies prove largely ineffective against these structural forces. Based on the above findings, this study proposes optimization suggestions at three levels: for universities (establishing a management system characterized by "clear boundaries, adequate safeguards, and refined management"), for policymakers (improving a career support system featuring "clear role definition, strong support, and effective supervision"), and for individuals (enhancing capabilities in "boundary management, resource integration, and digital adaptation"). This study not only fills the gap in research on the work-life balance of university counselors in non-Western contexts, but also supplements the local analytical dimensions of Western classical theories such as Boundary Management Theory, Role Conflict Theory, and Technostress Theory. Furthermore, it provides empirical references and practical paths for safeguarding the occupational health of educators and improving the quality of university education in the digital age.
Lei Bao (Thu,) studied this question.