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The Internet invention has fundamentally changed human life, but researchers still debate whether it has been for better or worse. Indeed, new technologies have stimulated the new forms of commerce, education, and leisure, providing a vast array of opportunities. At the same time, previous studies reported a negative impact of Internet use on psychological well-being due to the displacement of other, healthier activities. However, these studies had limited geographical and demographic scope, as they were predominantly conducted in the Global North. Moreover, observations in such analytics lasted only 3–4 years, and included mostly young people.
Researchers from the Oxford Internet Institute found previous conclusions unconvincing, so they examined the impact of internet technologies on eight indicators of well-being among users from 168 countries. The results were published in Technology, Mind, and Behavior.
Well-Being Indicators of Over Two Million People
To address gaps in understanding the impact of the Internet, scientists analyzed data from the Gallup World Poll 2022, a representative survey of the adult civilian population (aged ≥ 15 years) of each country conducted between 2006 and 2021. The total sample size consisted of 2,414,295 adults aged 26–54 years, including residents of Latin America, Asia, and Africa. Among the respondents, 53.1% were women.
We’ve analyzed how Internet access, mobility Internet access, and active Internet use might predict psychological well-being on a global level across the life stages. To our knowledge, no other research has directly grappled with these issues and addressed the worldwide scope of the debate.
Coauthor Andrew K. Przybylski, PhD, professor of human behavior and technology, Oxford Internet Institute
The eight well-being indicators included: life satisfaction; daily negative and positive experiences; two indices of social well-being; physical well-being; community well-being; and experience of purpose. Additionally, factors such as income, education, employment, relationship status, ability to meet basic needs (food and housing), and health issues were considered.
The Impact of Internet Use on Life Satisfaction
A multivariate analysis of the relationship between Internet use and psychological well-being yielded 33,792 specifications. In 84.9% of these, positive and statistically significant associations between Internet use and well-being were identified. The correlation between Internet access and life satisfaction was positive in 96.38% of model specifications.
We found that on average across countries and demographics, individuals who had internet access, mobile internet access, or actively used the internet reported greater levels of life satisfaction, positive experiences, experiences of purpose, and physical, community, and social well-being, and lower levels of negative experiences.
Study Authors
Only 4.9% of the results were negative, mainly concerning the relationship between Internet use and community well-being. These negative associations were predominantly observed among young women aged 15 to 24. The researchers noted that this finding aligns with previous reports linking the negative impact of social media with symptoms of depression in young women, who often face cyberbullying and psychological abuse online.
The authors stressed the need for further long-term observations on the impact of Internet technologies on everyday life. They called on service providers to share detailed user behavior data with sociologists working in this field.
Interestingly, the analysis also revealed that in 2006, 20.5% of people worldwide had Internet access, compared to 73.7% in 2021. Among these users, 93.4% use the Internet regularly, and 81.2% access it via mobile devices.
