Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: The paper explores the ambivalent impact of digital technologies on their users, providing a brief history of the emergence and dissemination of these technologies among the Russian population. Through the lens of an intergenerational analysis, based on representative quantitative data, the study examines the growth in Russians' engagement with internet usage (including advanced skills) and their use of gadgets (personal computers, mobile phones, and smartphones), as well as the increasing dependence on gadgets according to users' self-assessments. The primary data source is the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (RLMS–HSE) conducted by the National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE) for the years 1994–2023. The combined dataset includes 343,355 respondents aged 18 and older, comprising 42% men and 58% women. In addition to comparing the prevalence of internet users and users of various electronic devices across five generational cohorts, logistic regression analysis is applied, with indicators of engagement and addiction on gadgets as dependent variables. The findings show that intergenerational differences (including those after controlling for age effects) significantly influence all major indicators of engagement with the internet and gadgets, including intensive (daily) usage. Associated forms of addiction also occur significantly more frequently among younger generations. Noticeable gender differences favoring either women or men are identified depending on the specific type of device. However, with the transition to the youngest cohort, Generation Z, these gender differences often diminish or disappear altogether
Author: Vadim Radaev
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7121570879