A network analysis on digital media use, reading enjoyment, and orthography precision in a highly educated sample

Abstract

At least a decade before the advent of smartphones, alarms rose about a diffuse worsening of literacy because mobile phone use appeared frequently accompanied by deviations from standard linguistic norms. Evidence, however, has been mixed and, in addition, several key studies were performed before the current ubiquitous use of online entertainment. The present study used a network approach (partial correlation networks) to examine the relations between the participants' use of free time (whether they devoted it to diverse online and/or offline activities), their enjoyment of reading, and their scores in an orthography test, used as proxy for written language skills. The final sample comprised 840 adults, out of which about 86.7% either were studying or had a university degree. Participants’ age and their use of social media contributed the most to the network structure. Social media use was linked to both more social as well as more solitary free time activity, but it showed no direct connection with orthographic skills: at least in this highly educated sample, the relation between written language skills and digital media use was moderated by other factors. Orthographic skills improved, through separate routes, with years of education and with number of books read in a year. As the latter was also strongly associated with subjective reading enjoyment and devoting free time to reading, the findings therefore also indicate that greater reading pleasure significantly contributes to better written language skills.