Does the use of digital media affect psychological well-being? An empirical test among children aged 9 to 12

Abstract

Does digital media use support or undermine psychological well-being? This question has not only elicited a lot of attention in the popular media, but it also has been investigated empirically in scientific literature. Much of these studies have been conducted in samples of adolescents and adults, reporting both positive and negative effects of digital media use on well-being, leading to at least four theoretical positions about this relationship. In each of these theories the relationship between digital media use and well-being is explained by people's social network. In the present study, we address the question whether digital media use is related to psychological well-being in a large sample (N = 13,871) of children aged 9–12 year. The results revealed rather weak linear relationships (r's < 0.10), but at the same time it has been shown that highest frequency users of digital media in terms of daily use had a relative risk of 2.0 and beyond to score lower on well-being. In the specific group of children who have a Facebook profile (N = 2,528, 18.2%), their offline social network was a much stronger predictor of well-being compared to their online social network. Based on these cross sectional results, it is concluded that heavy use of digital media by young children has an adverse impact on their psychological well-being, but that mild use of such media has very limited effects in this respect.