Work

Exploring digital use, happiness, and loneliness in Japan with the experience sampling method

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: Smartphones have become an integral part of modern life, raising concerns about their impact on mental health, especially among young people. However, previous studies yielded inconsistent results, possibly due to neglecting the possibility of interactions between offline and online communications. To explore potential interactions among different communication modes (online vs. offline) and communication types (private vs. public), we adopted the experience sampling method to track 418 Japanese individuals over 21 days and analyzed the data using multilevel models and psychometric network models. The findings revealed that digital use has only small direct effects on happiness and loneliness, especially through public (one-to-many) online communication. The increased digital use reduced offline communication time, indirectly influencing loneliness to a large degree. Overall, this study highlights the indirect effects of decreased face-to-face communication and the significant role of one-to-many online communication, which may explain a part of the diverse findings on this issue.

Source: npj Mental Health Research

DOI: 10.1038/s44184-024-00108-4

Authors: Yijun Chen, Xiaochu Zhang, Rei Akaishi

Institutions: University of Science and Technology of China, RIKEN Center for Brain Science

Language: English

Topic: Impact of Technology on Adolescents

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $1,340