Digital well-being theory and research
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Abstract
Digital well-being concerns individuals’ subjective well-being in a social environment where digital media are omnipresent. A general framework is developed to integrate empirical research toward a cumulative science of the impacts of digital media use on well-being. It describes the nature of and connections between three pivotal constructs: digital practices, harms/benefits, and well-being. Individual’s digital practices arise within and shape socio-technical structural conditions, and lead to often concomitant harms and benefits. These pathways are theoretically plausible causal chains that lead from a specific manifestation of digital practice to an individual well-being-related outcome with some regularity. Future digital well-being studies should prioritize descriptive validity and formal theory development.
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- Authors
- Büchi, M.
- Affiliations
- University of Zurich (CH)
- Corresponding author
- Büchi, Moritz
- ORCID
- Büchi, Moritz
- Venue
- New Media & Society
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2021-11-14
- Volume
- 26
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 172-189
- ISSN
- 1461-4448 (ISSN-L)
- 1461-7315
- OpenAlex
- W3213655494
- Cited by
- 277
- References
- 31
- Citations by year
- 2026: 90 · 2025: 82 · 2024: 49 · 2023: 31 · 2022: 18 · 2021: 6
- FWCI
- 36.03
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Locations
- New Media & Society (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich) (acceptedVersion, cc-by)
- OSF Preprints (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- OSF Preprints (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion)
- Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich)
- Funders
- London School of Economics and Political Science
- Universität Zürich
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Impact of Technology on Adolescents
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computer Science Applications › Digital Media and Philosophy
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computer Networks and Communications › Media and Digital Communication
- Keywords
- digital well-being, subjective well-being, digital media use, digital practices, causal pathways, theory development, descriptive validity
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