Study: The impact of Internet access on psychological well-being

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

Their results show that internet access and use significantly predict higher psychological well-being, with over 96% of the time improved well-being associated with higher internet access and use.

As internet technologies and platforms become more accessible and widely used, concerns have arisen 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, tech companies have developed tools to promote digital well-being, allowing users to track how much time they spend using certain technologies or platforms. Lawmakers and health professionals are also developing regulations to protect the well-being of users on online 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 expanded significantly in recent decades and global trends are not fully understood. Existing research also largely focuses on the impact of the internet on young people, without considering the impact across the lifespan.

In this study, the researchers aimed to assess how access to the internet, both mobile and desktop, and active internet use predict measures 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 had access to the Internet at home or in any form, via 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 (being treated with respect, laughing, experiencing new things) and negative (anger, stress, sadness, worry, pain) experiences, a sense of purpose (enjoying what they do), and indices measuring physical well-being, social well-being, and community well-being.

The data were analyzed using multi-world analysis, which involved modeling different subsets of the data (gender and age group) with different covariates, outcomes, and predictors. Covariates included respondent income, educational level, employment, marital status, ability to meet basic needs for food and housing, and self-rated health.

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 than those without access.

In addition, active internet users showed increases in well-being across several measures, with small decreases in negative experiences. Access to the internet 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-worlds analysis confirmed the robustness of these associations, with internet access or use consistently associated with higher well-being in 96.4% of cases. Positive relationships 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 globally. It confirms previously published mixed results, showing a consistent positive association between internet adoption and various well-being indicators across demographic groups and countries.

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

However, the study acknowledges limitations. It relies heavily on between-person data, which may miss subtle individual experiences and causal pathways.

In addition, self-reported 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 accurate data on technology engagement. By integrating complex data sets and rigorous statistical approaches, scholars can advance our understanding of the causal effects of internet technologies on people’s lives.

"We hope that our findings will add more context to the debate about screen time; however, further work is needed in this important area. We encourage platform providers to share their detailed user behaviour data with social scientists working in this area for 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.