•Two longitudinal studies examined problematic internet use (PIU) and loneliness.•Cross-sectional analyses revealed positive relationships between PIU and loneliness.•There was no association between ...online use and loneliness.•During lockdown, there was a bidirectional relationship between PIU and subsequent loneliness.•Following easing of lockdown, only earlier PIU and later loneliness were associated.
Two, three-month long longitudinal studies examined the temporal relationships between problematic internet use (PIU), internet usage, and loneliness ratings, during and after lockdown restrictions. Experiment 1 examined 32, 18-51 year old participants, over a three-month period of lockdown restrictions. Experiment 2 studied 41, 18-51 year old participants, over a three-month period following the lifting of lockdown restrictions. Participants completed the internet addiction test, UCLA loneliness scale, and answered questioned about their online usage, at two time points. All cross-sectional analyses revealed a positive relationship between PIU and loneliness. However, there was no association between online use and loneliness. Longitudinal relationships between PIU and loneliness differed during and after lockdown restrictions. During a period of lockdown, there were both positive associations between earlier PIU and subsequent loneliness, and between earlier loneliness and subsequent PIU. However, following the easing of lockdown restrictions, only the temporal relationship between earlier internet addiction and later loneliness was significant.
Adolescents are spending an increasing amount of their time online and connected to each other via digital technologies. Mobile device ownership and social media usage have reached unprecedented ...levels, and concerns have been raised that this constant connectivity is harming adolescents’ mental health. This review synthesized data from three sources: (a) narrative reviews and meta‐analyses conducted between 2014 and 2019, (b) large‐scale preregistered cohort studies and (c) intensive longitudinal and ecological momentary assessment studies, to summarize what is known about linkages between digital technology usage and adolescent mental health, with a specific focus on depression and anxiety. The review highlights that most research to date has been correlational, focused on adults versus adolescents, and has generated a mix of often conflicting small positive, negative and null associations. The most recent and rigorous large‐scale preregistered studies report small associations between the amount of daily digital technology usage and adolescents’ well‐being that do not offer a way of distinguishing cause from effect and, as estimated, are unlikely to be of clinical or practical significance. Implications for improving future research and for supporting adolescents’ mental health in the digital age are discussed.
Read the Commentary on this article at doi: 10.1111/jcpp.13219
This study investigates the relationship between Information and Communication Technology (ICT) penetration, electricity consumption, economic growth, and environmental pollution within a ...multivariate framework. A panel of 16 EU countries was analyzed over the 1990-2017 period. The results of the Dumitrescu-Hurlin panel causality tests reveal the existence of a one-way causality running from ICT usage and electricity consumption and which, in turn, causes a rise in CO
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emissions and improves GDP. Panel Mean-Group regression results highlight that economic growth is also an important driver of electricity demand as a 1% economic growth rate is associated with a 0.13% increase in per capita electricity consumption. These results demonstrate for the first time in the literature a single assessment on the linkages among ICT, electricity use and environmental pollution with a novel focus on the EU. Based on these results, adequate measures should encompass the adverse environmental effects of ICT, while energy saving policies must be carefully implemented in order not to hinder economic growth.
This paper estimates the short- and long-run effects of Internet usage and economic growth on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions using OECD panel data for the period 1991–2012. The Pedroni panel ...cointegration test confirms that the variables are cointegrated. Although Pooled Mean Group (PMG) estimates indicate a positive significant long-run relationship between Internet usage and CO2 emissions, the coefficient is very small and no causality exists between them, which both imply that the rapid growth in Internet usage is still not an environmental threat for the region. The study further indicates that economic growth has no significant short-run and long-run effects on CO2 emissions. Internet use stimulates both financial development and trade openness. The findings offer support in favor of the argument that OECD countries can promote their Internet usage without being significantly concerned about its environmental consequences. But the future emissions effect of Internet usage cannot be ruled out, as is evident from the variance decomposition analysis. Therefore, this study recommends that in addition to boosting the existing measures for combating CO2 emissions, OECD countries need to use ICT equipment not to simply reduce its own carbon footprint but also to exploit ICT-enabled emissions abatement potential to reduce emissions in other sectors, such as the power, energy, agricultural, transport and service sectors.
•The Internet can be a tool to promote adolescent development.•The Internet promotes identity formation primarily as a tool to develop interests and expertise.•The Internet promotes autonomy by ...providing a private space, and a way for adolescents to negotiate and test parental rules.•Teens use the internet to form and maintain friendships, but less often to form romantic relationships.
This study explored adolescents’ opinions about how Internet use supports the achievement of their developmental tasks. Qualitative data were collected in focus groups interviews with 127 Italian Internet users (11–20) attending middle and high schools. Discussions were recorded, transcribed and analyzed using content analysis. Results showed that the Internet plays important functions in identity formation, personal autonomy, and relationships outside the family. It allows teens to develop their own interests, to identify with others and, at the same time, differentiate from others. The Internet is also an arena in which adolescents develop and practice autonomy. The Internet can be a source of conflict with parents, because of parents’ concerns about Internet use. However, the Internet can also be a meeting ground with parents. Finally, participants indicated the Internet is used to form close relationships with peers. Gender and age differences are discussed. Although the study is cross-sectional and relies only on adolescent report, findings illustrate how the conceptual framework of developmental goals may be helpful for understanding how the Internet can affect adolescents’ lives.
This study explored the effects of the Internet and Facebook usage on students' academic distraction. Facebook has become the critical vehicle for young adults to maintain their social presence and ...extend social connections. However, the demands for socialization and processing of scattered information on Facebook may have detrimental effects on students’ academic performance. In this study, we found that academic distraction is negatively associated with academic achievement. Students with a high-frequency usage of Facebook or the Internet for entertainment per day tended to be more distracted in academic tasks, and had lower GPA. Academic distraction played a mediating role in the indirect effect of the Internet and Facebook usage on the academic achievement of college students. The implication of the study lies in promoting the awareness and reflections of students and educators in regulating the usage behavior of the Internet and Facebook in the intensive computer-mediated environment.
•The overuse of Facebook and the Internet for entertainment has a negative influence on students' academic achievement.•Students with a high-frequency usage of Facebook per day tend to be more distracted in the course of academic tasks.•Academic distraction plays a mediating role in the effect of Facebook and the Internet usage on academic achievement.•Regulating the usage of Facebook and the Internet for entertainment can be beneficial to students' academic performance.
Digitalization has profoundly reshaped work modes and lifestyles and impacted individuals' life satisfaction. However, there has been limited research exploring this issue while comparing the effects ...before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, investigating heterogeneity across different socio-economic groups is crucial. This study uses data from the latest three waves of the European Social Survey in 2016, 2018, and 2020 to examine the influence of Internet usage on life satisfaction, unravel its underlying mechanisms, and conduct heterogeneity analysis with the fixed-effects ordered logit model and propensity score matching method. The empirical findings reveal the following: (a) Internet usage has significant and positive effects on life satisfaction, although the marginal effects of Internet usage decreases as respondents’ life satisfaction increases; (b) respondents with a “right” political tendency, higher levels of social interaction and trust, females, older individuals, higher income earners, those with lower education levels, better health conditions, and stronger religious beliefs tend to report higher life satisfaction; (c) work flexibility, work–life balance, and team engagement are identified as essential mediating factors in the relationship between Internet usage and life satisfaction; (d) Internet usage has had a significant and positive effect on life satisfaction since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, whereas this was not the case before the pandemic; and (e) the influence of Internet usage on life satisfaction is more pronounced among young, affluent communities, well-educated individuals, Eastern and Central Europeans, non-managers, and employees of central/local governments and private firms. This study underscores the rapid socio-economic transformation induced by digitalization in Europe and provides valuable insights on leveraging the Internet to improve individual life satisfaction in the post-pandemic era.
•Ordered logit model, PSM and IV method are used to analyze Internet-satisfaction nexus in Europe.•Internet usage can improve life satisfaction during COVID-19, but it is not the case before the pandemic.•Work flexibility, work-life balance, and team engagement plays a mediating role in Internet-satisfaction nexus.•Heterogeneity analyses in terms of age, income, region, education, and occupation have been made.
Along with the advancement of information technology, many needs depend on internet usage. A study of the reasons and places of the community in accessing the internet is needed. The methodology used ...in this study is descriptive analysis in regencies/cities in South Sumatra. The results obtained were above 85% of the population above 5 years in the Regency / City to access the internet at home for various reasons. Social media, entertainment and as a place of information are the biggest reasons people access the internet. There is a connection between the reason and the place where residents access the internet in the Regency / City of South Sumatra Province.
The older population in China will exceed 300 million by 2025. Severe gaps in digital inclusion exist in the information society, and older adults have not received sufficient attention. This study ...employed a multivariate probit approach to investigate the influencing factors of internet usage (IU) and the impact of IU on well-being using a nationally representative sample of adults aged 50 and over from the 2018 China Family Panel Studies (CFPS). A total of 13,737 individuals were reported in the sample after filtering. After controlling for certain variables, the findings indicated that activities of daily living, cognitive ability, family support, social capital, perceived risk appetite, and perceived importance positively affected IU. In contrast, migration status, the degree of depression, and self-esteem negatively affected IU. Furthermore, the effect of IU on subjective well-being (SWB) could be exerted through perceived usefulness, with an inverted “U” trajectory. There were substantial promotion effects for individuals with lower levels of well-being. Several policy implications are proposed to establish an inclusive IU environment, such as paying more attention to inner-urban older adults rather than just the urban‒rural divide, promoting technology to adapt to older adults’ demands, and encouraging multiple agents to create a good IU environment for older adults. This study provides new insights into the digital divide and well-being among older adults.
•Confidence capacity, depression degree and rural-urban migration negatively affected internet usage among older adults.•Negative affect and perceived usefulness could mediate the impact of internet usage behavior on subjective well-being.•Specific functional usage could enhance perceived usefulness in older adults, increasing personal subjective well-being.•Internet usage of the aged indicates urban-rural geographic disparity and household registration differentiation.•Adaptive technology development and multiple social supports can bridge the digital divide among older adults.
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