Researcher cautions against ‘one-size-fits-all solutions’ amid growing debate over impact, particularly on young people
Spending time online is often portrayed as something to avoid, but research suggests internet use is associated with greater wellbeing in people around the world.
The potential impact on wellbeing of the internet, and social media in particular, has become a matter of intense debate. “Our analysis is the first to test whether or not internet access, mobile internet access and regular use of the internet relates to wellbeing on a global level,” said Prof Andrew Przybylski, of the University of Oxford, who co-authored the work.
Przybylski said previous findings had been limited by poorly conducted studies, a focus on North America and Europe and research chiefly looking at concerns about such technology, particularly in relation to young people.
“It would be really good to be able to target advice and tools and regulation to protect young people in particular, but that evidence simply doesn’t exist in a way that would be useful for those ends,” he said.
Published in the journal Technology, Mind and Behaviour, the study describes how Przybylski and Dr Matti Vuorre, of Tilburg University in the Netherlands, analysed data collected through interviews involving about 1,000 people each year from 168 countries as part of the Gallup World Poll.
