Study: The Impact of Internet Access on Psychological Well-Being

In a recent study published in the journal of Technology, Mind, and Behavior, researchers examined whether Internet access and use could predict eight indicators related to well-being.

Their results show that Internet access and use significantly predicted higher psychological well-being, with more than 96% of improved well-being being associated with higher Internet access and use.

As Internet technologies and platforms become more accessible and widely used, there are concerns that they may impact people's psychological functioning and well-being. This represents a shift in focus from television and video game technologies to portable digital devices and online platforms.

At the same time, technology companies have developed tools to promote digital well-being by allowing users to track how much time they spend using certain technologies or platforms. Lawmakers and medical professionals are also developing rules to protect the well-being of users on Internet platforms.

However, evidence regarding the underlying relationships between the adoption and use of Internet technologies and user well-being is limited, and many studies show conflicting results.

The least studied areas are those where access has increased significantly in recent decades and global trends are not fully understood. Existing research also primarily focuses on the impact of the Internet on youth, without considering the impact throughout a person's life.

In this study, researchers sought to evaluate how access to the Internet, both mobile and traditional, and active Internet use predict indicators of psychological well-being, considering the global scope of the problem.

They used a cross-sectional study including 2,414,294 participants from 168 countries using Gallup World Poll data collected from 2006 to 2021.

Internet access was assessed using questions asking whether the respondent has access to the Internet at home or in any form, through a computer, mobile phone or other devices.

Internet use was assessed by asking whether the respondent's mobile phone could be used to access the Internet and whether they had used the Internet on any device in the past seven days.

The eight measures they looked at included overall life satisfaction, self-reports of daily positive (showing respect, laughter, new experiences) and negative (anger, stress, sadness, worry, pain) experiences, a sense of purpose (liking what are engaged), as well as indices measuring physical well-being, social well-being and community well-being.

Data were analyzed using multiworld analysis, which included modeling different subgroups of the data (gender and age group) with different covariates, outcomes, and predictors. Covariates included the respondent's income, level of education, employment status, marital status, ability to meet basic needs for food and shelter, and self-rated health.

The results showed consistently positive associations between Internet access or use and measures of well-being, including life satisfaction, positive experiences, satisfaction with social life, and physical well-being. People with internet access reported slightly higher life satisfaction and positive experiences and lower negative experiences compared to those without access.

Additionally, active Internet users showed increases in well-being across several measures, with a slight decrease in negative experiences. Internet access via mobile phones also predicted moderate increases in well-being. Although the effect sizes were small, these differences were significant across countries and demographic groups.

"We were surprised to find a positive correlation between well-being and internet use in most of the thousands of models we used for our analysis," said Dr. Vuorre, one of the study's authors.

Multi-world analysis confirmed the robustness of these associations, with internet access or use consistently associated with higher well-being in 96.4% of cases. The positive relationship persisted after adjusting for various covariates, suggesting potential causal links between Internet access or use and well-being.

However, negative associations were found between community well-being and Internet adoption among young active users, indicating complex effects across different demographic groups and covariate specifications.

The study delves into the impact of internet access and use on psychological well-being on a global scale. It confirms previously published mixed results, demonstrating a consistent positive association between Internet adoption and various indicators of well-being across demographic groups and countries.

The need to consider different demographic groups and model solutions when analyzing these associations is emphasized, highlighting the complexity of the relationships.

However, the study acknowledges limitations. It relies primarily on data between individuals, which may overlook subtle individual experiences and causal pathways.

In addition, self-report measures of technology participation introduce potential biases. Despite attempts to adjust for variables, the study's findings are tempered by the lack of reliable longitudinal data and standardized measures of well-being.

To address these limitations, future research should prioritize large-scale longitudinal studies with validated measures of well-being and rigorous data on technology engagement. By integrating complex data sets and rigorous statistical approaches, scientists can advance understanding of the causal effects of Internet technologies on people's lives.

"We hope our findings will add more context to the screen time debate; however, further work is needed in this important area. We encourage platform providers to share their detailed data on user behavior with social scientists working in this area to transparent and independent scientific research to provide a more complete understanding of Internet technologies in our daily lives," said Dr. Przybylski, discussing the implications of the study.