Stephen WildMar 31, 2023
Andrew Przybylski

It is popularly claimed that long-term trends in national and international well-being are influenced by the widespread availability and use of the internet, social media, & smartphones. It's a worrying idea, but not supported by research.

In our new paper @matti and I analysed data from 2,414,294 individuals (15 years & up) across 168 countries from 2006 to 2021. We tracked eight kinds of well-being against three forms of technology.

Please read, comment, and share!

https://psyarxiv.com/jp5nd

Mar 27, 2023 at 4:33pmWeb
Show threadRob Aye DaviesMar 27, 2023
@shuhbillskee @matti nice plot!
Show threadMatti Vuorre 🖖Mar 28, 2023
@robayedavies @shuhbillskee Thank you 🙏
Show threadJI YinanMar 28, 2023
@shuhbillskee @matti
Quite contributory findings, it raise another question that since positive consequences occur of internet use among general people, how it leads to serious harm (internet use disorder/gaming disorder) to certain kind of people.
Show threadMatti Vuorre 🖖Mar 28, 2023
@jiyinan @shuhbillskee That's right, subgroups are always something to consider. I'd note, though, that our findings do not speak directly to causal effects. I think different kinds of data might be needed to conclusively answer questions about whether online platforms are causing psychological consequences, positive or otherwise.
Show threadVincarsiMar 28, 2023

@matti @jiyinan @shuhbillskee I think the internet is fairly neutral in that it is a tool. I think any positive association has more to do with people having freedom to find social groups they fit into rather than getting a job and being narrowed down to only people you can find in a world with restricted movement.

I think a lot of "chronically online" people today would've been isolated and silent pre-internet