DIGITALIZATION
1: WHEN IS DIGITAL MEDIA USE HARMFUL OR BENEFICIAL FOR ADOLESCENT S?
(JASMINA ROSIC)
ADOLESCENSE
= developmental period (12-18 years) with significant developmental tasks:
• Autonomy
o individuals develop independence from their parents
o manage their own lives
• Intimacy
o Capabilities to develop close and meaningful relations with others
o Friends, partners
• Identity
o who they are and who they want to become as a person
Developmental tasks take place owing to the significant:
• Social:
o Contribute to adolescents’ autonomy from their parents
o Seeking social interactions and social support from their peers
o Peers become central attachment figures
o Peer relationships become more intimate, disclosive, and supportive
o Individuals form peer groups called cliques
o Socialization with peers refines their social skills and develops intimacy
• Emotional:
o Contribute to adolescents’ more organized, complex, and consistent view of their
personal identity
o Individuals define their values, and beliefs, and moral reasoning skills increase
• Cognitive developmental changes:
o Brain development leads to more complex, advanced, and abstract thinking
o Increased cognitive self-regulation, more sophisticated emotional coping strategies,
and mature decision-making skills
o Contributing to identity and autonomy development (= becoming more independent)
ADOLESCENCE AND DIGITAL MEDIA USE
Digital media have become a ubiquitous part of adolescents’ everyday activities
= a range of digital devices (smartphone, tablets, computers)
→ that support a variety of activities trough specific applications, such as social media use, gaming,
email communication and streaming
Contemporary adolescents aged 13 to 17 have near-universal access to digital media:
• 95% possessing a smartphone
• 88% accessing a computer
• 83% using a gaming console
• 70% having tablet access
Adolescents use digital media for:
• Social (connecting with friends)
• Cognitive (browsing for school related purposes, searching for information)
• Emotional (finding support)
, • Entertaining (creating or watching fun videos)
Digital communication preferred mode of communication with others = human to human social
interaction via digital devices, including:
• Interpersonal = one to one relationship (texting)
• Mass personal = access to broader audiences (tv – social media posts)
→ Passive vs active
• Passive
o scrolling
= observing the content
• Active
o posting, texting & chatting
= producing of communication
Nearly half of adolescents estimate they communicate online “almost constantly”
Digital communication occurs through social media:
• 90% using YouTube, 63% using TikTok, 61% using Instagram, and 55% using Snapchat
• video gaming (83%) and other channels
→ What do they prefer?
• Younger = snapchat
• Older = Instagram
AFFORDANCES OF DIGITAL MEDIA USE
Digital media affordances → adolescents keen digital media users because it affords many practical
and measurable pleasures
Affordances = subjective perceptions of the utility of a digital medium, derived from its objective
qualities
→ objective qualities of a digital medium: simultaneous availability of messaging (video) calling and
social media
→ perceived qualities: perceive “accessibility” as a utility of the medium
• Accessibility:
o Using social media anywhere and anytime
o Intimacy, identity and autonomy development
▪ Providing unlimited communication with others
▪ Unlimited opportunities to find, create and distribute identity-related
information
o Private accessibility (compared to tv digital media is highly personal used)
= highly personally used
= use without observation of parents
= private conversations
= higher autonomy and intimacy with others
• Universality:
o Digital media = meta media
o A variety of activities relevant to adolescents’ mastery of developmental tasks on a
single digital medium (on smartphone for instance)
o Intimacy and autonomy development
▪ Opportunities to extend offline communication
▪ Possibility of constant contact with friends – form relationships more easily
o Identity development:
▪ Enhances learning opportunities
▪ Seek out exemplars and role models
▪ Offers avenues for self-presentation and feedback
• Controllability:
o We can always edit our online content or text-bases digital communication
o Offline = no filter, we can’t correct what we said
, o Online = more control
o Enables adolescents to reflect on their communication or online self-presentation
o Sense of security and freedom because we can think about it before texting = better
development of identity, autonomy and intimacy
EFFECTS OF DIGITAL MEDIA USE
1. Higher susceptibility to the effects of digital media use in adolescence due to developmental
tasks
2. Research on areas important for adolescents’ development of autonomy, intimacy and
identity:
• Mental health development (happiness, depression)
• Social development (interactions, social support)
• Cognitive development (attention span, academic achievement)
• Physical development (physical activity)
WHEN IS DIGITAL MEDIA USE HARMFUL OR BENEFICIAL FOR ADOLESCENTS’
DEVELOPMENT?
• Public debate
o Debate = mostly negative
o They think it’s harmful on adolescents’ development
• Scientific debate
o Also, mostly negative and that it’s harmful
o But also, people who say this is not true
Meta-reviews (overviews or umbrella reviews)
= take all the existing studies on one topic and calculate a meta study to see how they come together
= Mixed and inconsistent findings regarding the significance and effect sizes of digital media use.
• Non-significant = no effect – individuals are not harmed and don’t have benefits
• small negative = more digital media → you feel worse but it’s not so large
• small positive = some feel better after using digital media
→ associations between digital media use and mental health, social, and cognitive development
indicators
Digital media ≠ good or bad → it’s very complex
The significance and effect sizes of the studied relationships were found to be contingent upon many
factors:
1. Conceptualization and Operationalization of the Examined Indicators
2. Conceptualization of Digital Media Use
3. Frequency of Digital Media Use
4. Type of Digital Media Use
5. Time Span
6. Heterogeneity of Users
1: CONCEPTUALIZATION AND OPERATIONALIZATION OF THE EXAMINED INDICATORS
• Examples of inconsistent results depending on how the indicators were defined and
measured (meta-analyses):
Mental health
• The direction of the observed relationship between digital media use and mental health
varied depending on the selected mental health indicators
• Weak positive associations between digital media use and depressive symptoms and
anxiety
• Weak positive associations with happiness
, = so, anxiety and happiness after digital media use = conflicting results
• Theoretically supported choice of mental health indicators that match a specific type of
media use has been shown to provide fewer inconsistencies.
• An organizing framework of mental health:
1. psychopathology or ill-being
= severe disruption of an individual’s psychological functioning (depressive symptoms)
= negative aspects, someone has problems with psychological functioning
2. well-being
= feeling well and thriving psychologically (affective well-being)
= more positive aspects – happiness
3. risk factors
=characteristics of psychosocial functioning that may increase an individual’s
susceptibility to develop ill-being or decrease well-being (perceived stress)
4. resilience factors
= characteristics of psychosocial functioning that may decrease an individual’s ill being
or increase their well-being (self-esteem)
Following this organizing framework in the meta-analytic research review containing an adult sample
also yielded equivocal results
• Meta-analytic research has often aggregated (reversed and combined) indicators of well-
being (happiness), ill-being (depressive symptoms), resilience factors for well-being (self-
esteem), and risk factors for ill-being (perceived stress)
• Well-being is not merely the opposite of ill-being, which led to different results
Suggestion: inclusion of indicators that are more central to understanding of well-being defined as:
o hedonic well-being (subjective experience of pleasure and contentment and overall
“feeling well”)
o eudaimonic well-being (experience of meaning and purpose in life, personal growth,
and overall “doing well”)
= if they have satisfied their needs in live
• Indicators:
o affective well-being
→ the presence of positive affect (happiness) and the absence of negative affect
(sadness)
o the satisfaction of competence, autonomy, and relatedness needs satisfaction as a
self-determination theory approach to eudaimonia.
o These indicators may be complemented by key resilience (or risk) factors (self-esteem)
Social development area
• Some research has treated this area as a distinct aspect: social well-being or social health
• Defined as the quality of individuals’ social relationships and functioning within social
groups and society
• Other research has conceptualized social well-being as a distinct aspect mental health
(eudaimonic well-being)
• Has identified social indicators (social support, loneliness) as risk or resilience factors
crucial for mental health
• A consistent small positive link between social capital and digital media use
• The remaining social indicators have demonstrated mixed results:
o Digital media use has been related to increased loneliness
o Study with more nuanced and theoretically driven social measures - distinguished
between social and emotional loneliness of adolescents - found
decreased loneliness level
= more specific → more nuances measured what loneliness is
= showed that levels where increased
1: WHEN IS DIGITAL MEDIA USE HARMFUL OR BENEFICIAL FOR ADOLESCENT S?
(JASMINA ROSIC)
ADOLESCENSE
= developmental period (12-18 years) with significant developmental tasks:
• Autonomy
o individuals develop independence from their parents
o manage their own lives
• Intimacy
o Capabilities to develop close and meaningful relations with others
o Friends, partners
• Identity
o who they are and who they want to become as a person
Developmental tasks take place owing to the significant:
• Social:
o Contribute to adolescents’ autonomy from their parents
o Seeking social interactions and social support from their peers
o Peers become central attachment figures
o Peer relationships become more intimate, disclosive, and supportive
o Individuals form peer groups called cliques
o Socialization with peers refines their social skills and develops intimacy
• Emotional:
o Contribute to adolescents’ more organized, complex, and consistent view of their
personal identity
o Individuals define their values, and beliefs, and moral reasoning skills increase
• Cognitive developmental changes:
o Brain development leads to more complex, advanced, and abstract thinking
o Increased cognitive self-regulation, more sophisticated emotional coping strategies,
and mature decision-making skills
o Contributing to identity and autonomy development (= becoming more independent)
ADOLESCENCE AND DIGITAL MEDIA USE
Digital media have become a ubiquitous part of adolescents’ everyday activities
= a range of digital devices (smartphone, tablets, computers)
→ that support a variety of activities trough specific applications, such as social media use, gaming,
email communication and streaming
Contemporary adolescents aged 13 to 17 have near-universal access to digital media:
• 95% possessing a smartphone
• 88% accessing a computer
• 83% using a gaming console
• 70% having tablet access
Adolescents use digital media for:
• Social (connecting with friends)
• Cognitive (browsing for school related purposes, searching for information)
• Emotional (finding support)
, • Entertaining (creating or watching fun videos)
Digital communication preferred mode of communication with others = human to human social
interaction via digital devices, including:
• Interpersonal = one to one relationship (texting)
• Mass personal = access to broader audiences (tv – social media posts)
→ Passive vs active
• Passive
o scrolling
= observing the content
• Active
o posting, texting & chatting
= producing of communication
Nearly half of adolescents estimate they communicate online “almost constantly”
Digital communication occurs through social media:
• 90% using YouTube, 63% using TikTok, 61% using Instagram, and 55% using Snapchat
• video gaming (83%) and other channels
→ What do they prefer?
• Younger = snapchat
• Older = Instagram
AFFORDANCES OF DIGITAL MEDIA USE
Digital media affordances → adolescents keen digital media users because it affords many practical
and measurable pleasures
Affordances = subjective perceptions of the utility of a digital medium, derived from its objective
qualities
→ objective qualities of a digital medium: simultaneous availability of messaging (video) calling and
social media
→ perceived qualities: perceive “accessibility” as a utility of the medium
• Accessibility:
o Using social media anywhere and anytime
o Intimacy, identity and autonomy development
▪ Providing unlimited communication with others
▪ Unlimited opportunities to find, create and distribute identity-related
information
o Private accessibility (compared to tv digital media is highly personal used)
= highly personally used
= use without observation of parents
= private conversations
= higher autonomy and intimacy with others
• Universality:
o Digital media = meta media
o A variety of activities relevant to adolescents’ mastery of developmental tasks on a
single digital medium (on smartphone for instance)
o Intimacy and autonomy development
▪ Opportunities to extend offline communication
▪ Possibility of constant contact with friends – form relationships more easily
o Identity development:
▪ Enhances learning opportunities
▪ Seek out exemplars and role models
▪ Offers avenues for self-presentation and feedback
• Controllability:
o We can always edit our online content or text-bases digital communication
o Offline = no filter, we can’t correct what we said
, o Online = more control
o Enables adolescents to reflect on their communication or online self-presentation
o Sense of security and freedom because we can think about it before texting = better
development of identity, autonomy and intimacy
EFFECTS OF DIGITAL MEDIA USE
1. Higher susceptibility to the effects of digital media use in adolescence due to developmental
tasks
2. Research on areas important for adolescents’ development of autonomy, intimacy and
identity:
• Mental health development (happiness, depression)
• Social development (interactions, social support)
• Cognitive development (attention span, academic achievement)
• Physical development (physical activity)
WHEN IS DIGITAL MEDIA USE HARMFUL OR BENEFICIAL FOR ADOLESCENTS’
DEVELOPMENT?
• Public debate
o Debate = mostly negative
o They think it’s harmful on adolescents’ development
• Scientific debate
o Also, mostly negative and that it’s harmful
o But also, people who say this is not true
Meta-reviews (overviews or umbrella reviews)
= take all the existing studies on one topic and calculate a meta study to see how they come together
= Mixed and inconsistent findings regarding the significance and effect sizes of digital media use.
• Non-significant = no effect – individuals are not harmed and don’t have benefits
• small negative = more digital media → you feel worse but it’s not so large
• small positive = some feel better after using digital media
→ associations between digital media use and mental health, social, and cognitive development
indicators
Digital media ≠ good or bad → it’s very complex
The significance and effect sizes of the studied relationships were found to be contingent upon many
factors:
1. Conceptualization and Operationalization of the Examined Indicators
2. Conceptualization of Digital Media Use
3. Frequency of Digital Media Use
4. Type of Digital Media Use
5. Time Span
6. Heterogeneity of Users
1: CONCEPTUALIZATION AND OPERATIONALIZATION OF THE EXAMINED INDICATORS
• Examples of inconsistent results depending on how the indicators were defined and
measured (meta-analyses):
Mental health
• The direction of the observed relationship between digital media use and mental health
varied depending on the selected mental health indicators
• Weak positive associations between digital media use and depressive symptoms and
anxiety
• Weak positive associations with happiness
, = so, anxiety and happiness after digital media use = conflicting results
• Theoretically supported choice of mental health indicators that match a specific type of
media use has been shown to provide fewer inconsistencies.
• An organizing framework of mental health:
1. psychopathology or ill-being
= severe disruption of an individual’s psychological functioning (depressive symptoms)
= negative aspects, someone has problems with psychological functioning
2. well-being
= feeling well and thriving psychologically (affective well-being)
= more positive aspects – happiness
3. risk factors
=characteristics of psychosocial functioning that may increase an individual’s
susceptibility to develop ill-being or decrease well-being (perceived stress)
4. resilience factors
= characteristics of psychosocial functioning that may decrease an individual’s ill being
or increase their well-being (self-esteem)
Following this organizing framework in the meta-analytic research review containing an adult sample
also yielded equivocal results
• Meta-analytic research has often aggregated (reversed and combined) indicators of well-
being (happiness), ill-being (depressive symptoms), resilience factors for well-being (self-
esteem), and risk factors for ill-being (perceived stress)
• Well-being is not merely the opposite of ill-being, which led to different results
Suggestion: inclusion of indicators that are more central to understanding of well-being defined as:
o hedonic well-being (subjective experience of pleasure and contentment and overall
“feeling well”)
o eudaimonic well-being (experience of meaning and purpose in life, personal growth,
and overall “doing well”)
= if they have satisfied their needs in live
• Indicators:
o affective well-being
→ the presence of positive affect (happiness) and the absence of negative affect
(sadness)
o the satisfaction of competence, autonomy, and relatedness needs satisfaction as a
self-determination theory approach to eudaimonia.
o These indicators may be complemented by key resilience (or risk) factors (self-esteem)
Social development area
• Some research has treated this area as a distinct aspect: social well-being or social health
• Defined as the quality of individuals’ social relationships and functioning within social
groups and society
• Other research has conceptualized social well-being as a distinct aspect mental health
(eudaimonic well-being)
• Has identified social indicators (social support, loneliness) as risk or resilience factors
crucial for mental health
• A consistent small positive link between social capital and digital media use
• The remaining social indicators have demonstrated mixed results:
o Digital media use has been related to increased loneliness
o Study with more nuanced and theoretically driven social measures - distinguished
between social and emotional loneliness of adolescents - found
decreased loneliness level
= more specific → more nuances measured what loneliness is
= showed that levels where increased
