Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Subscription Access
Open Access Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Restricted Access Subscription Access

Effects of Digital Technology on Juvenile Well-being: A Systematic Review


Affiliations
1 Rekhi Centre of Excellence for the Science of Happiness, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, West Bengal, India
2 Advanced Technology Development Centre, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, West Bengal, India
     

   Subscribe/Renew Journal


The purpose of this article is to present a synopsis of the research on juvenile well-being and the usage of digital technologies. In sum, the data suggest that the consequences are generally unfavourable, but negligible. Procrastination and passive usage are associated with greater negative impacts, while social and active uses are associated with more good outcomes. Short-term indicators of hedonic well-being (such as negative affect) are more strongly affected by digital technology use than long-term eudaimonic well-being indicators (e.g., life satisfaction). Adolescents are particularly susceptible, but adults are not spared either. Evidently, low and high usage are linked to lower levels of happiness, but moderate usage is associated with higher levels of happiness. There are many gaps in the existing research that need to be filled. There is a lack of high-quality research that include large samples, objective measures of digital technology use, and experience sampling of happiness.

Keywords

Procrastination, Hedonic, Eudaimonic, Well-Being.
User
Subscription Login to verify subscription
Notifications
Font Size

  • Alghamdi, A., Karpinski, A. C., Lepp, A., & Barkley, J. (2020). Online and face-to-face classroom multitasking and academic performance: Moderated mediation with selfefficacy for self-regulated learning and gender. Computers in Human Behavior, 102, 214-222.
  • Allcott, H., Braghieri, L., Eichmeyer, S., & Gentzkow, M. (2020). The welfare effects of social media. American Economic Review, 110(3), 629-76.
  • Balluerka, N., Gorostiaga, A., Alonso-Arbiol, I., & Aritzeta, A. (2016). Peer attachment and class emotional intelligence as predictors of adolescents' psychological wellbeing: A multilevel approach. Journal of Adolescence, 53, 1-9.
  • Bayer, J., Ellison, N., Schoenebeck, S., Brady, E., & Falk, E. B. (2018). Facebook in context (s): Measuring emotional responses across time and space. New Media and Society, 20(3), 1047-1067.
  • Best, P., Manktelow, R., & Taylor, B. (2014). Online communication, social media and adolescent well-being: A systematic narrative review. Children and Youth Services Review, 41, 27-36.
  • Blakemore, S. K. (2019). The art of medicine. Adolescence and Mental Health, 393, 2030-2031.
  • Boase, J., & Ling, R. (2013). Measuring mobile phone use: Self-report versus log data. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 18(4), 508-519.
  • Booker, C. L., Skew, A. J., Kelly, Y. J., & Sacker, A. (2015). Media use, sports participation, and well-being in adolescence: cross-sectional findings from the UK household longitudinal study. American Journal of Public Health, 105(1), 173-179.
  • Brown, N. J., & Rohrer, J. M. (2020). Easy as (happiness) pie? A critical evaluation of a popular model of the determinants of well-being. Journal of Happiness Studies, 21(4), 1285-1301.
  • Bruggeman, H., Van Hiel, A., Van Hal, G., & Van Dongen, S. (2019). Does the use of digital media affect psychological well-being? An empirical test among children aged 9 to 12. Computers in Human Behavior, 101, 104-113.
  • Carr, N. (2010). The shallows: How the internet is changing the way we think, read and remember. Atlantic Books Ltd.
  • Caspi, A., Roberts, B.W., & Shiner, R.L. (2005). Personality development: Stability and change. Annual Review of Psychology, 56(1), 453-484. doi:10.1146/annurev.p sych.55.090902.141913.
  • Clark, J. L., Algoe, S. B., & Green, M. C. (2018). Social network sites and well-being: The role of social connection. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 27(1), 32-37.
  • Cohen, S. (2011). Folk devils and moral panics. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9 780203828250
  • Coyne, S. M., Rogers, A. A., Zurcher, J. D., Stockdale, L., & Booth, M. (2020). Does time spent using social media impact mental health? An eight year longitudinal study. Computers in Human Behavior, 104, 106160.
  • Diener, E., Lucas, R. E., & Oishi, S. (2018). Advances and open questions in the science of subjective well-being. Collabra: Psychology, 4(1), 1-49.
  • Dienlin, T. (2018). Have Europeans become more or less happy since the advent of smartphones and social media? https://tobiasdienlin.com/2018/07/05/since-theadvent- of-smartphones-have-we-be-come-more-or-less-happy/. Published July 5, 2018.
  • Dienlin, T., Masur, P. K., & Trepte, S. (2017). Reinforcement or displacement? The reciprocity of FtF, IM, and SNS communication and their effects on loneliness and life satisfaction. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 22(2), 71-87.
  • Domahidi, E. (2018). The associations between online media use and users' perceived social resources: A meta-analysis. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 23(4), 181-200.
  • Dumesnil, H., & Verger, P. (2009). Public awareness campaigns about depression and suicide: A review. Psychiatric Services, 60(9), 1203-1213.
  • Ellis, D. A. (2019). Are smartphones really that bad? Improving the psychological measurement of technology-related behaviors. Computers in Human Behavior, 97, 60-66.
  • Ellis, D. A., Davidson, B. I., Shaw, H., & Geyer, K. (2019). Do smartphone usage scales predict behavior? International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 130, 86-92.
  • Fam, J. Y. (2018). Prevalence of internet gaming disorder in adolescents: A meta‐analysis across three decades. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 59(5), 524-531.
  • Greenspoon, P. J., & Saklofske, D. H. (2001). Toward an integration of subjective wellbeing and psychopathology. Social Indicators Research, 54(1), 81-108.
  • Hall, J. A., Xing, C., Ross, E. M., & Johnson, R. M. (2021). Experimentally manipulating social media abstinence: Results of a four-week diary study. Media Psychology, 24(2), 259-275.
  • Hammond, C. J., Potenza, M. N., & Mayes, L. C. (2012). Development of impulse control, inhibition, and self-regulatory behaviors in normative populations across the lifespan. In J. E. Grant and M. N. Potenza (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of impulse control disorders (pp. 232–244). Oxford University Press.
  • Haselhuhn, M. P., Schweitzer, M. E., & Wood, A. M. (2010). How implicit beliefs influence trust recovery. Psychological Science, 21(5), 645-648.
  • Heffer, T., Good, M., Daly, O., MacDonell, E., & Willoughby, T. (2019). The longitudinal association between social-media use and depressive symptoms among adolescents and young adults: An empirical reply to Twenge et al. (2018). Clinical Psychological Science, 7(3), 462-470.
  • Houghton, S., Lawrence, D., Hunter, S. C., Rosenberg, M., Zadow, C., Wood, L., & Shilton, T. (2018). Reciprocal relationships between trajectories of depressive symptoms and screen media use during adolescence. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 47(11), 2453-2467.
  • Humphreys, L., Karnowski, V., & Von Pape, T. (2018). Smartphones as meta-media: A framework for identifying the niches structuring smartphone use. International Journal of Communication, 12, 17.
  • Ioannidis, J. P. (2016). The mass production of redundant, misleading, and conflicted systematic reviews and meta‐analyses. The Milbank Quarterly, 94(3), 485-514.
  • Jensen, M., George, M. J., Russell, M. R., & Odgers, C. L. (2019). Young adolescents' digital technology use and mental health symptoms: Little evidence of longitudinal or daily linkages. Clinical Psychological Science, 7(6), 1416-1433.
  • Johannes, N., Meier, A., Reinecke, L., Ehlert, S., Setiawan, D. N., Walasek, N., & Veling, H. (2021). The relationship between online vigilance and affective wellbeing in everyday life: Combining smartphone logging with experience sampling. Media Psychology, 24(5), 581-605.
  • Katevas, K., Arapakis, I., & Pielot, M. (2018, September). Typical phone use habits: Intense use does not predict negative well-being. Proceedings of the 20th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services, Barcelona, Spain (pp. 1-13). https://doi.org/10.1145/3229434.3229441
  • Krueger, R. F., McGue, M., & Iacono, W. G. (2001). The higher-order structure of common DSM mental disorders: Internalization, externalization, and their connections to personality. Personality and Individual Differences, 30(7), 1245- 1259.
  • Lissak, G. (2018). Adverse physiological and psychological effects of screen time on children and adolescents: Literature review and case study. Environmental Research, 164, 149-157.
  • Livingstone, S. (2018). Privacy, data protection and the evolving capacity of the child: what the evidence tells us. Media@ LSE.
  • Livingstone, S., Haddon, L., Hasebrink, U., Ólafsson, K., O'Neill, B., Smahel, D., & Staksrud, E. (2014). EU kids online: Findings, methods, recommendations. LSE, London: EU Kids Online. Available on http://lsedesignunit. Com/EUKidsOnline.
  • Livingstone, S., Olafsson, K., Helsper, E. J., Lupianez-Villanueva, F., Veltri, G. A., & Folkvord, F. (2017). Maximizing opportunities and minimizing risks for children online: The role of digital skills in emerging strategies of parental mediation. Journal of Communication, 67(1), 82-105.
  • Lucas, R. E., Clark, A. E., Georgellis, Y., & Diener, E. (2003). Reexamining adaptation and the set point model of happiness: reactions to changes in marital status. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84(3), 527.
  • Lyubomirsky, S., Sheldon, K. M., & Schkade, D. (2005). Pursuing happiness: The architecture of sustainable change. Review of General Psychology, 9(2), 111-131.
  • Marker, C., Gnambs, T., & Appel, M. (2018). Active on Facebook and failing at school? Meta-analytic findings on the relationship between online social networking activities and academic achievement. Educational Psychology Review, 30(3), 651- 677.
  • McCrae, N., Gettings, S., & Purssell, E. (2017). Social media and depressive symptoms in childhood and adolescence: A systematic review. Adolescent Research Review, 2(4), 315-330.
  • Meier, A., & Reinecke, L. (2021). Computer-mediated communication, social media, and mental health: A conceptual and empirical meta-review. Communication Research, 48(8), 1182-1209.
  • Meier, A., Reinecke, L., & Meltzer, C. E. (2016). “Facebocrastination”? Predictors of using Facebook for procrastination and its effects on students' well-being. Computers in Human Behavior, 64, 65-76.
  • Orben, A. (2020). The Sisyphean cycle of technology panics. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 15(5), 1143-1157.
  • Orben, A., & Przybylski, A. K. (2019). Screens, teens, and psychological well-being: Evidence from three time-use-diary studies. Psychological Science, 30(5), 682-696.
  • Orben, A., & Przybylski, A. K. (2019). The association between adolescent well-being and digital technology use. Nature Human Behaviour, 3(2), 173-182.
  • Orben, A., Dienlin, T., & Przybylski, A. K. (2019). Reply to Foster and Jackson: Open scientific practices are the way forward for social media effects research. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(31), 15334-15335.
  • Orben, A., Dienlin, T., & Przybylski, A. K. (2019). Social media's enduring effect on adolescent life satisfaction. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(21), 10226-10228.
  • Orben, A., Etchells, P. J., & Przybylski, A. K. (2018). Three problems with the debate around screen time. Kings Place: The Guardian.
  • Ortiz-Ospina, E., & Roser, M. (2013). Happiness and life satisfaction. Our World in Data. Published online at OurWorldinData.org.in, Retrieved from: https://ourworldi ndata.org/happiness-and-life-satisfaction.
  • Pew Research Center. Teens, Social Media & Technology (2018). Pew res cent internet sci tech. https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2018/05/31/teens-social-mediatechnology- 2018/. Published May 31, 2018.
  • Pew Research Center. Teens, Social Media & Technology (2022). Pew res cent internet sci tech. Https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2022/08/10/teens-social-mediaand- technology-2022/
  • Pinker, S. (2018). Enlightenment now: The case for reason, science, humanism, and progress. Penguin UK.
  • Reinecke, L., Meier, A., Beutel, M. E., Schemer, C., Stark, B., Wölfling, K., & Müller, K. W. (2018). The relationship between trait procrastination, internet use, and psychological functioning: Results from a community sample of German adolescents. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 913.
  • Ritchie, H., & Roser, M. (2018). Mental health. Our World in Data. Retrieved from. https://ourworldindata.org/mental-health.
  • Scharkow, M. (2016). The accuracy of self-reported internet use: A validation study using client log data. Communication Methods and Measures, 10(1), 13-27.
  • Thorisdottir, I. E., Sigurvinsdottir, R., Asgeirsdottir, B. B., Allegrante, J. P., & Sigfusdottir, I. D. (2019). Active and passive social media use and symptoms of anxiety and depressed mood among Icelandic adolescents. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 22(8), 535-542.
  • Thrash, T. M. (2021). The creation and curation of all things worthy: Inspiration as vital force in persons and cultures. Advances in Motivation Science, 8, 181-244.
  • Trepte, S., Dienlin, T., & Reinecke, L. (2015). Influence of social support received in online and offline contexts on satisfaction with social support and satisfaction with life: A longitudinal study. Media Psychology, 18(1), 74-105.
  • Tromholt, M. (2016). The Facebook experiment: Quitting Facebook leads to higher levels of well-being. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 19(11), 661-666.
  • Trzesniewski, K. H., Donnellan, M. B., & Robins, R. W. (2003). Stability of self-esteem across the life span. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84(1), 205.
  • Valkenburg, P. M., & Peter, J. (2013). The differential susceptibility to media effects model. Journal of Communication, 63(2), 221-243.
  • Valkenburg, P. M., Koutamanis, M., & Vossen, H. G. (2017). The concurrent and longitudinal relationships between adolescents' use of social network sites and their social self-esteem. Computers in Human Behavior, 76, 35-41.
  • Vanman, E. J., Baker, R., & Tobin, S. J. (2018). The burden of online friends: The effects of giving up Facebook on stress and well-being. The Journal of Social Psychology, 158(4), 496-508.
  • Verduyn, P., Ybarra, O., Resibois, M., Jonides, J., & Kross, E. (2017). Do social network sites enhance or undermine subjective well‐being? A critical review. Social Issues and Policy Review, 11(1), 274-302.
  • Vickers, N. J. (2017). Animal communication: when I'm calling you, will you answer too? Current biology, 27(14), R713-R715.
  • Vos, T., Allen, C., Arora, M., Barber, R. M., Bhutta, Z. A., Brown, A., & Boufous, S. (2016). Global, regional, and national incidence, prevalence, and years lived with disability for 310 diseases and injuries, 19902015: A systematic analysis for the global burden of disease study 2015. The lancet, 388(10053), 1545-1602.
  • Whitlock, J., & Masur, P. K. (2019). Disentangling the association of screen time with developmental outcomes and well-being: Problems, challenges, and opportunities. JAMA Pediatrics, 173(11), 1021-1022.
  • Wu, Y. J., Outley, C., Matarrita-Cascante, D., & Murphrey, T. P. (2016). A systematic review of recent research on adolescent social connectedness and mental health with internet technology use. Adolescent Research Review, 1(2), 153-162.

Abstract Views: 213

PDF Views: 0




  • Effects of Digital Technology on Juvenile Well-being: A Systematic Review

Abstract Views: 213  |  PDF Views: 0

Authors

Diganta Panda
Rekhi Centre of Excellence for the Science of Happiness, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, West Bengal, India
Ranajit Bera
Rekhi Centre of Excellence for the Science of Happiness, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, West Bengal, India
Ramya Ranjan Behera
Rekhi Centre of Excellence for the Science of Happiness, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, West Bengal, India
R. Karthik
Advanced Technology Development Centre, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, West Bengal, India

Abstract


The purpose of this article is to present a synopsis of the research on juvenile well-being and the usage of digital technologies. In sum, the data suggest that the consequences are generally unfavourable, but negligible. Procrastination and passive usage are associated with greater negative impacts, while social and active uses are associated with more good outcomes. Short-term indicators of hedonic well-being (such as negative affect) are more strongly affected by digital technology use than long-term eudaimonic well-being indicators (e.g., life satisfaction). Adolescents are particularly susceptible, but adults are not spared either. Evidently, low and high usage are linked to lower levels of happiness, but moderate usage is associated with higher levels of happiness. There are many gaps in the existing research that need to be filled. There is a lack of high-quality research that include large samples, objective measures of digital technology use, and experience sampling of happiness.

Keywords


Procrastination, Hedonic, Eudaimonic, Well-Being.

References