The Oxford Internet Institute released a study on Tuesday that examined the psychological health of 2 million people from 2005 to 2022 across 168 countries. It found “smaller, less consistent associations” than what would be expected in the event the internet was causing widespread mental harm.
“We looked very hard for a ‘smoking gun’ linking technology and well-being, and we didn’t find it,” OII Professor Andrew Przybylski, one of the authors of the study, said in a statement.
We studied the most comprehensive data ever collected on internet adoption and well-being, including demographics and time. Our descriptive results showed small and inconsistent associations, even though we could not address causal effects.
Researchers focused on the impact the internet could have on specific age and gender groups. Przybylski stated that they had tested age and gender to see if there was anything different. However, there were no results that supported the popular belief that certain groups would be more at risk.
Internet usage has been accused in recent years of being harmful to younger users. This includes cyberbullying, inappropriate content and a dependence on online use.
Researchers noted that filtering results by gender and age group did not reveal any demographic patterns specific to women or young girls, even though they were able to identify their data.
They added that, on average, females’ life satisfaction has increased over the period.
Missing Individual Nuance
Karen Kovacs North is the director of the Annenberg Program on Online Communities (Program for Online Communities) at the University of Southern California.
She told TechNewsWorld: “I would not take this as meaning that digital influences do not have an impact on an individuals’ satisfaction or emotional wellbeing.”
Ashley Johnson, senior policy manager of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation in Washington D.C., a research and policy organization, said that the internet’s impact on an individual is largely dependent on the way they use it.
She said that because there are so many variables in how people use internet, it’s not surprising to find seemingly contradictory findings from different studies.
“I do not think that we will find a single universal answer as to how the internet impacts us, because it has so many different effects on us,” she added. “This creates the opportunity for nuanced study into how both our actions and those taken by various companies and regulatory agencies can have positive or negative psychological outcomes.”
More tech cooperation needed
Julie AncisThe professor, who is also the founding director of Cyberpsychology at New Jersey Institute of Technology (N.J.), added that factors such as how people use technology, what they view, and how much time they spend on it can all contribute to an individual’s wellbeing.
TechNewsWorld reported that “research on the relation between social media usage and well-being often results in mixed results.” “A number of factors need to be taken into consideration.”
Among the variables cited by Ancis are an individual’s usage — active, passive, or addictive, and their mental health and strength of offline interactions.
“I congratulate the authors on conducting a massive study longitudinal on this topic,” said she. “Future research should focus on specific variables such as, but not only, the type and level of internet usage, personality characteristics of the participants, and offline support.”
Przybylski, Vuorre and their colleagues called for more cooperation between researchers and tech companies in their research.
They argued that technology companies must provide more data to prove conclusively the impact of internet usage. The research on internet technologies has stalled, because technology companies and platforms are collecting and storing the most important data behind closed doors.
They continued, “It is vital to study data in greater detail, with more transparency, from all stakeholders on individual adoption and engagement of internet-based technology.” The data is available to global technology companies for marketing and product improvements. Unfortunately, it’s not accessible for independent researchers.
Influencing Policy
There are many reasons why tech companies keep their data near their motherboards.
Johnson stated that “some of the most common concerns I hear or see from companies is the risk of exposing their trade secrets, or creating unintentionally a road map for bad actors who want to take advantage of their services. For example, ways to avoid being flagged for posting content in violation of rules.”
She continued, “But there are other solutions than broadcasting this information to the entire world.” “Researchers need more information to be able study internet phenomena. We may need regulations to achieve this level transparency across the board.”
Data Dilemma, Privacy vs. research
North said that a lot of the useful data would include information on data collection, and how the data is used to curate experiences. “That is how tech companies earn their money. I don’t expect them to give that data up.”
“I’m not sure how you could separate out the data for which they are successful from data that researchers might want to analyze,” she said. “That is their secret sauce and they won’t give it up.”
North said that the study’s results could affect how policymakers view Big Tech. She noted that they’ll have to refine opinions and realize that digital in general isn’t a villain. “Policy shouldn’t necessarily be so global and broad.” It should instead address specific problems using specific calculations.”
Dr. Jeffrey Singer, senior fellow and practicing surgeon at the Cato InstituteThe research on the subject is inconclusive.
TechNewsWorld reported that he believes the causes for feelings of depression and other mental problems are likely multifactorial. “Therefore legislators should not rush in to enact any legislation at this time when our understanding of the issue is just in its infancy.”
