More Time on Technology, Less Happiness? Associations Between Digital Media Use and Psychological Well Being
Studies using large samples consistently find that more frequent users of digital media are lower in psychological well being than less frequent users; even data sets used as evidence for weak effects show that twice as many heavy users (vs. light users) are low in well being. Differences in perspective may stem from the statistics used; I argue that comparing well being across levels of digital media use is more useful than the percentage of variance explained, as most studies on digital media use do not measure other influences on well being (e.g. genetics, trauma) and these other influences, unlike frequency of digital media use, are rarely controllable. Nonusers are generally lower in well being than light users of digital media, however, suggesting that limited use may be beneficial. Longitudinal and experimental studies suggest that at least some of the causation moves from digital media use to lower well being. Mechanisms may include the displacement of activities more beneficial to well being (sleep, face to face social interaction) upward social comparison, and cyberbullying.
Current Directions in Psychological Science