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A new study, conducted by Oxford University, found that using the Internet enhances people's sense of well-being and level of satisfaction with their lives.
The results were based on an analysis of data from two million people, between the ages of 15 and 99, from the Gallup World Poll in 168 countries.
The team measured well-being according to eight indicators: life satisfaction, negative and positive daily experiences, two measures of social well-being (well-being related to liking where you live and feeling safe there), physical well-being, community well-being and experiences of purpose.
Factors such as education, income, and health were also taken into account, however, the study did not include the rate of use of social networking sites.
The researchers found that using the Internet raised the level of life satisfaction in all countries by 8.5%, and was linked to general well-being by 84.9%.
“Overall, we found that the mean associations were consistent across predictors of Internet use and well-being outcomes, those with access to the Internet reporting greater well-being,” said Andrew Przybylski, Professor of Human Behavior and Technology at the Oxford Internet Institute (OII).
He added: "I believe that there will come a time when people will not be concerned about young people's use of social media and the Internet, because they will be concerned about the upcoming technological development."
“We were surprised to find a positive relationship between well-being and internet use across the majority of the thousands of models we used in our analysis,” said Associate Professor Matti Faure, from Tilburg University, and former OII research associate.
The study was published in the American Psychological Association's Journal of Technology, Mind, and Behavior.
Source: Daily Mail - Publication date: 15/05/2024 - https://r.rtarabic.com/xiyr