A global, 16-year study1 of 2.4 million people found that Internet use may improve measures of health, such as life satisfaction and sense of purpose — challenging the conventional wisdom that Internet use has negative effects on people’s well-being.
“It’s an important piece of the puzzle in digital media use and mental health,” said psychologist Markus Appel at the University of Würzburg in Germany. “If social media and the use of the Internet and mobile phones are causing serious damage to our society, we must see it from a bird’s eye view. [study] – but we don’t. ” Such concerns are often related to behaviors linked to social media use, such as cyberbullying, social media addiction and body image issues. But the best studies to date have shown little, if any, negative effects.2,3the use of the Internet in good health, says Appel.
From different Gallup polls:
Pryzbylski and colleagues analyzed data on how Internet access was related to eight measures of well-being from the Gallup World Poll, conducted by the Gallup analysis company, based in Washington DC. Data was collected annually from 2006 to 2021 from 1,000 people, aged 15 and over, in 168 countries, through telephone or in-person interviews. The researchers controlled for factors that may affect Internet use and well-being, including income level, employment status, level of education and health problems.
…The team found that, on average, people who had access to the Internet scored 8% higher on measures of life satisfaction, positive experiences and satisfaction with their social life, compared to people who did not have access to the Web. Online activities can help people learn new things and make friends, and this can have beneficial effects, Appel suggests.
Note that in these latest data sets women aged 15-24 are still the worst at accessing the internet.
Here’s a clip from Nature, by Clara B. Jones.
Source link