No effect of different types of media on well-being

Does media use have observable effects on well-being? Historically, the public and scholars have been skeptical of new media and technologies.

For example, there is a lively debate on the harmful effects of digital devices (e.g., smartphones) or new media (e.g., social networking sites).

The lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic reignited that narrative of overreliance on technology because people were using media much more than previously. That narrative is ambivalent: Technology use is considered an enjoyable pastime and simultaneously harmful.

It is often assumed that traditional forms of media such as books enhance well-being, whereas new media do not. However, we lack evidence for such claims, and media research is mainly focused on how much time people spend with a medium, but not whether someone used a medium or not.

Results from a six-week longitudinal study representative of the UK population 16 years and older (N = 2159) do not suggest that using traditional media harms or benefits users in the intermediate; an elitist view of, for example, books does not seem warranted.

Based on these broad, net effects there seems to be no need for policymakers to encourage or discourage media use on the basis of well-being alone. These results only represent the first step. There is much to learn on the optimal time lag, underlying causal models, potential confounders, and what people actually do with media, rather than relying on a simplistic linear dose-response model.

Published: 06 January 2022

source:

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-03218-7

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-03218-7