Abstract
It is often assumed that traditional forms of media such as books enhance well-being, whereas new media do not. However, we lack evidence for such claims and media research is mainly focused on how much time people spend with a medium, but not whether someone used a medium or not. We explored the effect of media use during one week on well-being at the end of the week, differentiating time spent with a medium and use versus nonuse, over a wide range of different media types: music, TV, films, video games, (e-)books, (digital) magazines, and audiobooks. Results from a six-week longitudinal study representative of the UK population 16 years and older (N = 2159) showed that effects were generally small; between-person relations but rarely within-person effects; mostly for use versus nonuse and not time spent with a medium; and on affective well-being, not life satisfaction.
Highlights
It is often assumed that traditional forms of media such as books enhance well-being, whereas new media do not
That comparison is important because societal discourse often takes a form of technological determinism[12] for granted: People are helpless in the face of social media and attention demanding notifications, but benefit from traditional media, such as reading b ooks[1]
Our second research question asked about the reciprocal effects between media use and well-being, distinguishing between-person relations from potential within-person effects
Summary
It is often assumed that traditional forms of media such as books enhance well-being, whereas new media do not. Dominated for a long time by cross-sectional work, recent longitudinal studies have begun adding nuance to the analysis of net screen time effects[15,18] The few studies looking at users versus nonusers are in a similar state as the research on screen time five years ago They reveal some interesting differences, they are mostly cross-sectional[32,33]. Whereas researchers study time spent with media with increasing nuance by employing longitudinal designs and separating between- and within-person levels, we lack that nuance for use versus nonuse. Our third research question asked about the different effect of use versus nonuse and time spent with a medium
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